


Try Everything

by WitchFee



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Angst and Drama, Dramaqueen ahoi, Growing Up Rhys, Light mention of sex, M/M, Minor Violence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, Very much plot, but no porn, fluffy fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2018-07-19 17:49:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 25,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7371640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WitchFee/pseuds/WitchFee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rhys really wants to work for Hyperion, but everyone even his parents tell him that he won't ever do it. They expect him to give up, but he doesn't and gets more determined. When he finally makes it, he's surprised by all the things that happen to him. Rhys didn't expected this, when he thought about his life in Helios.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One Foot After Another

Today is a big day for Rhys and he doesn't know how often he went through all of it. He prepared this over weeks, to make it perfect. No mistakes, just like the company itself. Because today is the day, where Rhys has to inform the other students about his dreamjob. Rhys already know, that he will get the best grade that's possible. With a very confident smile, he goes into the classroom with the handouts and the placard. Rhys hangs the placard to the blackboard and gives the handouts to his teacher. ,,Today I will inform you about my dreamjob and as you already see: I want to work for Hyperion. I don't really care, where I will work. It's just important, that I work for Hyperion.", Rhys starts and loses all his confidence immediately, when he sees his classmates. They all start to laugh and Rhys doesn't know why. ,,You? _You_  want to work for Hyperion? You are too unimportant, so that they would _ever_  take you!", one of the kids says and holds its belly. For Rhys this is his worst nightmare. ,,No...in the radio they said, they would take everyone.", Rhys answers quietly and just gets laughed at more. ,,Oh my god! You really believed that? They don't mean you, they mean others, that are so much more worth than you." Suddenly Rhys feels tears brim in his eyes and anger in his heart. ,,I will show it to you all! I _will_  work at Hyperion and be rich!", he yells with tears running down his cheeks and runs out of the classroom.

With red swollen eyes, Rhys comes back home and his mother instantly hugs him. ,,Hey, what's wrong, champ?", she asks him concerned and he cries into her shoulder. ,,Calm down, everything will be alright. You are a strong man, aren't you?", she says to him softly and tickles him lightly. ,,Stop it, Mom!", Rhys laughs and attacks his mother back. ,,So what happened?" Rhys looks down to the ground and doesn't really want to tell her. ,,The others laughed at me, because of my dreamjob." His mother sighes heavily and strokes his arm. ,,Maybe you should think of something else? Don't have too big dreams?", she means to him really calm, but Rhys instantly takes a step back from her. He hates it, when his parents say this. They always do and that since he first told them about his dream. ,,Nobody understands or supports me! Except Vaughn, he's the only one!" Rhys shoots an angry look at her and walks up the stairs angrily. ,,We just want to protect you.", he hears his mother, before he shuts the door and throws his bag in a corner of his room.

He looks around his room and sighs sadly. It's decorated with several posters from Hyperion. Mostly motivational posters. They really motivate him and keep him going. _Whatever everyone says! I will show them all, that I can do that! They will regret their comments!_  He turns on his radio and searches the right frequence. Quickly he finds it and listens to the voice. ,,You think, that you have everything, we need in Helios? Then apply to us today and become a helpful worker for Hyperion!" These ads always calms Rhys down and reassures him, that he can actually do it. He _will_  do it. After the ad ends, he changes to a frequence with music. Suddenly he feels really relaxed and confident again, so he dances around in his room. He won't ever give up this dream. He doesn't want to end up just like any other one. He doesn't want to be weak.

After some time, where he turned off the radio and sat down in front of his desk to do something for school, his best friend Vaughn comes into his room. Rhys immediately stands up and greets his friend with their secret handshake. ,,And how was your presentation? I bet you got an A!", Vaughn asks him and sits down on Rhys' bed. ,,No...everyone laughed, when I just said, what I want to do. I couldn't finish it, because I ran away.", Rhys answers still upset about it and Vaughn looks angry at Rhys. ,,They are all jealous, that you _have_  dreams! They just take that, what they get and don't question anything." Vaughn and Rhys go to different schools, because of their parents. Rhys' school has a slightly better reputation than Vaughns, but they're neighbours so they can see each other every day, if they want. They went to the same kindergarten, but they're now on different primary schools. Rhys and Vaughn hope they will go to the same secondary school. ,,Maybe you're right. But even my parents don't believe in me." Vaughn snorts quietly and shakes his head. ,,Why are your parents so against it?" Rhys shrugs and recalls the last sentence from his mother. ,,My mother meant, they want to protect me.", Rhys repeats it for Vaughn. ,,From what? New experience?" Again Rhys shrugs with his shoulders and looks out of his window. Sometimes, when they drive somewhere, he sees the big **H** in the sky from Helios. Luckily for him, he can't see it from his window, because then it would always make him sad or remember him of his fail. ,,Rhys, I believe in you, no matter what. I think, you will do it and will show everyone how to make money!", Vaughn says to him with a soft smile and Rhys is so happy to have him as his best friend. He doesn't know, what he would do without him. Probably, he would've given up a long time ago.

It's dinner time and the whole family plus Vaughn sits around the table. Most of the times, Vaughn eats together with them, because his parents are kinda always at work. Vaughn doesn't mind it that much, because he likes to hang out with Rhys and he loves the meals from Rhys' mother. ,,And Rhys, how was school?", his father asks him and Rhys is tired of telling it. ,,It was a bad day.", Rhys simply answers and his father gives him a surprised look. ,,Why?" Rhys sighs quietly and annoyed. ,,Mom can explain it to you, it only makes it worse for me to always tell the story.", Rhys answers and his mother tells the story like Rhys told her in one sentence. ,,That's horrible." Rhys nods in agreement and finishes his meal. ,,But what do you like so much about Hyperion?", his father asks Rhys and earns an angry look. ,,Everyone there is nice and they're a famous company!" His father strokes his hair back and looks at Rhys lightly in despair. ,,Why can't you go to a company that's not so far away and out of your reach?" Rhys stands up and tugs Vaughn with him out of the front door. ,,I bring Vaughn home. See you.", he says before he opens the door. ,,Rhys! This talk is not finished!" Rhys simply closes the door and brings Vaughn home.

,,You will get house arrest.", Vaughn says concerned and shakes his head at the behavior from Rhys. ,,I don't care. They shouldn't talk like that to their son. I'm not an object!", Rhys replies loudly and Vaughn pats his back soothingly. ,,I'm always there for you. When you want to be somewhere else, then just come over!", Vaughn says, before he goes through the door and they say their goodbyes. _Best friend, I will ever have._

Rhys lays in his bed and looks at all the planets behind his window. He got punished and now he isn't allowed to bring someone home or go to someone else for two weeks. _They just don't understand me._  His father was really mad and said to him some really mean things, like he will never do it or that this is just stupid. Rhys calmed down after he cried again and now he's about to fall asleep. _They won't ever control my life. They won't ever make the decision for me._


	2. Growing Up

He's running and running. He never looks behind him, just runs. At a special place for him, he stops and tries to catch his breath. He wants to scream so loud, that his voice hurts and maybe fades away. His phone rings several times, but he doesn't answer it, because it's his parents. They had a fight _again_. Everyday the same topic, the same things they say. He looks up to the sky and sees the big **H**  above him glowing. _I will be up there and laugh down at them._  He sits down into the cool grass and tries to calm himself down.

Everything started with a very special sentence from his father. ,,Rhys, maybe you should work at Maliwan? Look, they make elemental weapons and have a high reputation as well. Not so high like Hyperion, but still." That made Rhys incredibly angry and he answered really loud. ,, _Dad_ , maybe you should just accept my dream! My wish!" With that everything escalated and they just screamed at each other. At some point Rhys had enough and ran out of the house. ,,You can't just go!" His father yelled behind him, but Rhys could and did. ,,I can do, what I want!" Then the door was closed and Rhys ran to this place.

Rhys looks at the flowers and sighs. His relationship with his parents got worse since he goes to high school and plus his puberty...they are in a family war. It's so bad, that he doesn't really talk to them that much and when, then they get into a fight and everything ends, that one of them quits. He doesn't hate his parents, but he can't understand them and thinks, that they maybe don't want to see him happy. They made so many suggestions for other companies he could work at, but they were _not_  Hyperion. Rhys really doesn't want to fight with his parents all the time, but he won't give up this dream for them. It's not impossible and it never were like his parents said.

Rhys looks down at his yellow mechanical hand and strokes with his normal hand over it. He had a horrible accident and lost his right arm. The doctors gave him examples for a replacement, but he wanted his arm from one company. Rhys worked so much, so he could get one of these arms and pay the surgery. After two months, he had the money and instantly went to the doctors. Since then he lives with a robot arm and he got used to it pretty fast. Because of this arm, his dream doesn't feel so far away anymore and he can't wait, to finally apply at the company. Unfortunately he has to study before he can work there. So he has to wait a few more years.

His left hand lands on the left side of his neck and he starts to smile lightly. There he has a black tattoo. It's just a black circle surrounded by a few other black lines and dots. He loves it and is looking forward for the next _big_  tattoo, but he has to safe some money for it. His parents don't like the idea of tattoos at all, but Rhys doesn't care, because he is 18 years old so he can decide about it by himself. This tattoo on his neck was a little strike against his parents, so they see they can't decide about his life. They looked at him shocked and he just smiled at them. They are in a _deep_  war.

Rhys knows, he should be nicer to his parents, but they treat him like a doll they can manipulate. They all are tired of fighting and talk about the same topic over and over, but they want to push their opinion through. Rhys' parents are pretty frustated with him and Rhys is just happy to live in Helios someday. Then his parents can't do anything to him.

Suddenly Vaughn stands next to him and sits down. Rhys and Vaughn go to the same high school, after a few discussion with his parents. They wanted to take him to a private school without Vaughn. Rhys said to them, that he would instantely move out and fly to Helios. They didn't need to know, that he wouldn't ever had made it to Helios. So they gave in and let him go to the normal high school. Rhys is so happy, to go to the same school as Vaughn. It was one of his little hopes in primary school. Over one thing Rhys and his parents don't fight at least. Rhys is a _very_  good student and his parents say to him sometimes, that they are proud of him. These moments are rare and Rhys can count them on one hand.

,,Hey, everything's alright?", Vaughn asks him and Rhys looks over at him. ,,The same as always. Had a fight with my parents, because of my dreamjob. My father meant, I should work at Maliwan.", Rhys answers and Vaughn snorts loudly. ,,Your parents are...are rude! They should support you and not make you give up." Over the years, Vaughn got more and more mad at Rhys' parents. Rhys thinks, that Vaughn really doesn't like them anymore. Vaughn already picked fights with them and protected Rhys' dream. Because of that, Rhys' parents thinks, that Vaughn is a bad influence. When his parents said that to Rhys, he couldn't fought back the laughter and his parents were _pissed_  then. Sometimes Vaughns parents talked to Rhys' but that made them so angry and they punished Rhys for all of it. Rhys then said to Vaughn, that he and his parents shouldn't talk to them about the topic ever again. Vaughn felt sorry for him and promised to him that. ,,Yeah, maybe they should.", Rhys replies with a light laughter and Vaughn huffs angrily. ,,Calm down, bro. Look, I won't ever give up. Whatever they say, whatever they offer me, they won't get me to give in.", Rhys reassures him and is glad to have the company from Vaughn right now. ,,I know that, but still they should support their own son!" Rhys lays one arm around Vaughns shoulder and tries to soothe him. They sit like that for a few moments before Rhys says something again. ,,Thank you, Vaughn. I'm glad to have you as my best friend." ,,Don't get emotional now, bro. Otherwise you can swim in my tears.", Vaughn jokes and Rhys punches him lightly. _Broest Bro of all the Bros_.

After some time, it started to rain and Vaughn went home. Rhys is already soaked wet and shivers on the whole body. He doesn't want to go back home, where his parents are. They will yell at him and give him punishment. He probably deserves it. Maybe he can really just fly to Helios now and maybe he will be accepted. Because of his strengh and courage. Rhys would laugh now, but he doesn't find the energy for that. With a heavy sigh, he stands up and walks home.

At home, he gets greeted with yells and angry looks from his parents. ,,Rhys! Your behaviour is unacceptable!", his father says to him and Rhys walks to the stairs. ,,Yeah, tell me something new.", he answers dryly and his father snorts angrily. ,,Young man! We won't accept this tone anymore!" Rhys sighs and looks over his shoulder at his father bored. ,,Why do you always talk about we and such? Is this really always Moms opinion too?", Rhys means, before he climbs up the stairs and leaves his father alone in the hallway. ,,This boy!", Rhys hears his father yelling. With his pajamas in his hands, he walks to the bathroom and takes a quick shower.

**~~~ 5 Years Later ~~~**

Rhys sits on the sofa with Vaughn and Yvette. They play a videogame and Rhys is about to win the game. Rhys is calmer since he doesn't live with his parents anymore. He moved together with Vaughn and after some time Yvette moved in too. He knows Yvette from Vaughn, because they were a pair and they are in the same class. Rhys is in the class for robotics and his friends in accounting. Vaughn was a bit upset about the fact, that they won't go in the same class, but it was okay because they're in the same university. Rhys is confused what's now with Vaughn and Yvette. Sometimes they are lovers, then they are not. He stopped to count how many times they dated now. Rhys doesn't care about that, as long as they are still friends and the atmosphere is not awkward between them.

Yvette is a nice roommate, because she helps with everything like cooking, cleaning and she believes in Rhys, that he will do it to Hyperion. This dream didn't die and won't, because he just has to study one more year and then he can finally apply for a job at Hyperion. His parents sometimes visited them and they actually didn't fight everytime they saw each other. They kinda gave up to tell Rhys, that he shouldn't keep the dream, because he is studying and not so far away anymore from the job in Hyperion. Rhys is the best student in his class and he's proud of himself. His parents and friends too. It isn't easy, but with a few longer nights and less parties, he will keep this up till the end. He loves to learn for the lessons and likes to learn everything about robotics.

,,Okay, Rhys. If you lose, you have to burn one of you Handsome Jack posters and if you win, you can demand something from me.", Yvette suddenly challenges him and Rhys accepts the challenge. ,,I will win, because every one of these posters are a little treasure.", Rhys answers and they all laugh. Vaughn sometimes says, that Rhys is _crazy_  about Handsome Jack. When Rhys was 19 years old or so, he was a bit possessed about Hyperion and wanted to knew everything about it. Since then he knows, that Handsome Jack is the CEO from Hyperion and well Jack got the idol from Rhys. He really looks up to him. When he works for Hyperion someday, then he wants to work his way up and work directly under and for Handsome Jack. Maybe he will work for him but, it's enough when he works there.

Rhys wins the game and looks at Yvette with a shit-eating grin. ,,Well, what do you say to that?" Yvette rolls with her eyes and Vaughn laughs. ,,Okay okay, what do you want from me?", Yvette asks and Rhys' grin gets wider. ,,Ohhh, is here someone, who can't stand to lose?" ,,Bro, it's enough.", Vaughn says lightly amused and punches Rhys. ,,Yeah, okay. Yvette, you could cook dinner today, huh?", Rhys asks and Yvette quickly nods with her head relieved. ,,What did you thought I would've asked of you?" Yvette shrugs and walks to the kitchen from them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So um yeah, that was the second chapter from this story. I nearly forgot to post something, because the week felt like two days. Whatever, hope you liked it and have a good day/night/morning/whatever-time-you-read-this!


	3. Chapter 3

Rhys looks at the letter nervously. He doesn't know, if he should send it to Hyperion. Will he be good enough for them? He has doubts, because it's Hyperion after all! Slowly he takes the letter and walks outside of the apartment. Vaughn and Yvette are still at work and so they can't reassure him. _I shouldn't hesitate now! I wanted to apply there for so many years now and so I should run to the space mail station. More than a rejection can't happen. They won't moonshot me, or what?_  With a little grin, Rhys walks to the building and hands over the letter without any hesitation. _Now I can't go back._

**~~~**

A week later, Rhys didn't hear anything from Hyperion and he gets more nervous, when a day passes without a letter from the company. Maybe they just trashed his application or something like that? He looks over their mail several times a day and his friends do everything to calm him down.

Now Rhys sits at his desk and writes some other applications, if it shouldn't work at Hyperion. He hates to write them and he feels like a traitor for it. Suddenly Vaughn comes into the room from Rhys and in his hand he holds a letter. A light yellow letter with thin darker yellow stripes and black font. Rhys nearly falls out of his chair at the sight from the letter and tries to remember how to breathe. _It's the answer from Hyperion._  With shaking hands, he takes the letter and fumbles around with it. ,,Open it, bro. It won't get better, just because you don't look at it.", Vaughn reassures him with a light pat on his shoulder. Rhys nods and opens the letter. _Now is the decision, if my dream was dumb or not._  He reads the sentences over and over and just sits there without any reaction. ,,Rhys, I'm sorry, if they-", Vaughn wants to calm him down, but Rhys cuts him off. ,,They accepted me." Vaughn looks at him surprised and Rhys looks up to him. ,,They really accepted me. Oh my god...this is so surprising.", Rhys repeats and Vaughn just hugs him tightly. ,,I said it so many times to you, that they will accept you. I think, it's a honor for them, to send you this letter!" Rhys laughs lightly and hugs Vaughn back. He really wants to cry right now, because of relief. A dream just came true. A dream, he dreamed of since he's in primary school and since then everybody told him it wouldn't fulfill. _They all were wrong! Like I said years ago._  Immediately Rhys turns to his desk and throws the papers for the applications into his trashbin. _I won't need them anymore._

Later the same day, Rhys visits his parents to tell them about the good news. They ate dinner and now they just sit around the table without any conversation. ,,Mom...Dad today came the answer from Hyperion.", Rhys starts and his parents immediately look at him. ,,And? What's the answer?", his mother asks him really curious and Rhys thinks, if he should mess with them, but he is against it. ,,They actually accepted me.", he answers and his parents look at him like he talked about flying skags with seven legs. He puts the letter from Hyperion on the table in front of them and they quickly read the few lines on the paper. ,,They really did it.", his mother says with a light smile and walks around the table to hug her son. ,,I'm happy to see that." Rhys doesn't know what to do and just wraps his arms around his mother. ,,Sorry, _we_  are happy to see that.", his mother corrects herself and his father hums in agreement. ,,You did it. Good job, Rhys.", his father praises him and Rhys feels so happy like he could die. He will work for Hyperion and his parents accept it, they are actually proud of him.

Vaughn and Rhys wait for Yvette impatiently. They made a plan to fool her and they can't wait to see her face. The frontdoor opens and Vaughn and Rhys put their sad faces on. ,,Hey guys, I'm back.", Yvette calls from the hallway and comes into the living room. ,,Why the sad faces? Did somebody die?", Yvette asks and tries to lift up the sad mood. ,,Yeah, _something_  died today.", Rhys answers and fights against his grin. ,,And what?" Yvette is so clueless and that makes the joke even better. Rhys just shows her the envelope from the letter and Yvettes eyes widen. ,,You don't want to say, that they rejected you, huh?" Rhys nods with his head and Yvette sits down next to him. ,,I'm so sorry about that!" She hugs Rhys in sympathy and Rhys now starts to feel bad for the joke. She really cares about him. ,,They are stupid, when they don't take you! You were the best student in the class and in the whole university! Who should be better than you?", she says and strokes Rhys' arm. ,,Yvette, I have to say something to you.", Rhys starts and Yvette looks at him curiously. ,,We messed with you. Hyperion took me. I will work for them." Yvette immediately punches him and then hugs him again, but tighter. ,,You dumbasses! I felt really bad for you and you just fooled me!" Rhys shrugs with his shoulder and apologizes for it.

A few hours later, they sit on the couch with beers and talk about the future. How it will be to work for Hyperion and such. Vaughn said, that Rhys will be richer than everybody on their planet here. Yvette then said, that Rhys will surely die before he will be so rich. They just laughed and teased each other about their deaths. Rhys really enjoys this evening and never felt so happy in his entire life. _I won't **ever**  forget this day_.

**~~~**

With his suitcase, Rhys waits in the apartment for his parents. They promised him to drive him to the shuttle. _In a few hours I'm in Helios. It's unbelievable!_  If his parents would show up. They are already 10 minutes too late. _Maybe they won't show up, so that I can't catch my ride and won't work there?_  He shakes his head violently and reminds himself, that his parents are _not_ assholes. His friends are already at the shuttle, probably. Just when Rhys thinks about, that he won't see them every day, his heart aches. Rhys will miss them so much. His ECHO device suddenly rings and he answers the call. ,,Hey, Rhys. We're so sorry, but we can't drive you to the shuttle. Maybe we are not there to say goodbye. We are so sorry. But we ordered a really fast taxi to your place.", his mothers quickly says and he hears, that she's about to cry. ,,Mom, it's fine. Really. Don't worry, if you can't make it, then it is like it is. I will visit you as fast as I can and I call you nearly every day, okay?", Rhys tries to soothe her and she breaths out audible. ,,Okay, when you say it. Still, I'm sorry. We should be there, when you fly away.", she replies quietly and Rhys has sympathy with her.

The front door suddenly rings and Rhys guesses, that it's the taxi. ,,Mom, the taxi is there. I have to hang up. I promise you, that I will call right, when I'm in Helios!", he says and after they said their goodbyes, Rhys hangs up. Quickly he walks through the front door and enters the taxi with his suitcase.

**~~~**

At the shuttle station, Rhys exits the taxi and his friends already greets him. ,,Rhys, you don't have to fly away, right?", Vaughn says sadly and Rhys pats him on the back lightly. ,,I don't have to, but I want to.", he answers and Vaughn sighs. ,,I know, but I will miss you." They look silently at the shuttle. Rhys has to take off in 20 minutes. Rhys scans the shuttle with his ECHO Eye, just to check in what condition it is. _Best Hyperion tech. The electronic is up to date and the probability to die is nearly 0%._  Rhys got his ECHO Eye from Hyperion too and he got it, because he wanted to be different. In the same time, he got his big blue tattoo on his upper body. He likes how they turned out. After the surgery for the ECHO Eye, his eye hurt really bad and was swolen, but it got better fast and now it's really useful.

His parents arrive just in time and they all hug each other. ,,Rhys, please don't go!", Vaughn says worried and Rhys hugs him tighter. ,,It's my dream and hey, if I wouldn't fly, then all your reassurance, would've been for nothing." Vaughn nods against him and they break the embrace. Then it's Yvettes turn. ,,Yvette, please don't cry.", Rhys means soothing to her, because she has tears in her eyes. ,,I can't! Rhys, I will miss your dumb ass! Who will buy me lunch now?", she says and cries into Rhys' shoulder. ,,You still have Vaughn and he has money too.", Rhys replies with a light laugh and she nods. ,,I will just say it now: I already miss you and thanks for everything.", she whispers to him and he hums in appreciation. When Yvette removed herself from Rhys, Rhys looks at his parents. ,,Well, then this is it.", Rhys starts slowly and his mother hugs him. ,,We all will miss you! Please don't forget to call me and your dad sometimes! I still can't believe you will live up there...in space.", his mother says and Rhys soothes her lightly. ,,Everything will be okay and I will call you!" Rhys looks to his father and doesn't know what to say. ,,Rhys, I have something to say. I'm sorry, about everything. That I said so many mean things to you, just because of your dreamjob. I should've believed in you, but I was afraid you would be hurt, if you would've failed. I didn't want to hurt your feelings, like I always did.", his father says and for the first time in a few years, they embrace each other and not just shake their hands.

Rhys is about to enter the shuttle, but he looks back over his shoulder. ,,Rhys, we are so proud of you!", his mother says and everyone nods with their heads. They all are crying, except from Rhys and his father. Rhys doesn't want to worry them more, when he shows, that he misses them so much and doesn't want to fly anymore. ,,I will miss you all!", he replies and gets into the shuttle. It is big and comfortable. While the shuttle slowly lifts up from the ground, he waves back at everyone. Suddenly the shuttle speeds up and then he flies directly to the sky. It makes his stomach dizzy and tickly, so he grins lightly. When the shuttle starts to fly constantly in the same speed and height, he can't see his friends and family anymore and he starts to cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know, how much it hurts to have an eye surgery, especially for an ECHO Eye, so sorry if it's unlogical! :D
> 
> As always, I hope you liked the chapter and if so you can leave a nice comment, but you don't have to!  
> Ah, and sorry that Jack doesn't appear in the chapters yet, it will take a few chapter (really few!).  
> If you want you can check out my tumblr https://www.tumblr.com/blog/witchfee I just reblog about Overwatch, mainly Borderlands and other funny things! And of course, I post about my stories and such.


	4. Opportunities

After some time, he calmed down and now listens to some music from the radio. Between the songs are some advertisements from Hyperion weapons and other technology from the company. _As if I don't have enough technology from Hyperion in my body._  ,,Now playing: Glorious Day from Weezer. Thank you for flying with a Hyperion shuttle. Enjoy your flight and the music.", a robotic voice announces and Rhys is slightly annoyed from the voice. He looks out of the window and listens to the music.

_Gonna make my move_

_Gonna make it stay_

_Gonna make it last_

_Nevermind the past_

_Living for today_

Rhys sees the planet Pandora coming closer and he is excited to see Opportunity. _The city built from Jack. Some call it Jackville II._  In the letter stood, that every new worker, who wants to work for Hyperion, has to visit Opportunity to see the story from Handsome Jack. Rhys thinks, it is just an ego trip for Handsome Jack, to know that every worker of him has to be in awe, because of the story. _It's not so bad at all. I always wanted to visit the city and Pandora, so it's okay._  Rhys _is_  already amazed by Handsome Jack and read about his story so many times before. _One more time can't hurt, huh?_

**~~~**

With a few wobbly steps, Rhys leaves the shuttle and looks around amazed. The city looks really modern and expensive. He walks into the city and looks at the statues from Handsome Jack out of gold or whatever metal. _Why aren't they made out of diamonds? Handsome Jack has a living pony out of diamonds, if you can trust the rumors._  Rhys walks to the Living Legend Plaza and starts to listen to the historical sequences at the different painted walls. _The art work is amazing. Nice style._  After he listened to the five sequences, Rhys really had enough. _This voice is so boring and painful to listen to._  His stomach begins to rumbles lightly and he decides to eat something. On his way to a restaurant, he sees many kinds of Loader Bots and their engineers. _In an emergency the families, which live here, would be saved from the robots and soldiers._  Rhys still decides, that he wouldn't like to live here. It's not his kind of living.

**~~~**

After another flight and dizziness, Rhys finally made it to Helios. Slowly he exits the shuttle and he feels like he needs a reason to put his feet on the ground from the space station. He has one. He works for Hyperion, but still it feels like he doesn't have the permission for that. With a shake of his head, he walks out of the hangar and into the space station. Rhys knows, that he will need some time, to get the important ways into his head, because the space station is huge and he doesn't have the best orientation. _Hopefully my ECHO Eye will help me._

Suddenly an armored soldier walks up to him and Rhys is kinda afraid. He feels so foreign here and doesn't know anyone familiar. ,,You are the new guy in robotics, right?", the man asks him and his voice is slightly muffled, because of the helmet. ,,Uh...Yeah.", Rhys answers and wishes Vaughn or Yvette would be here, preferably both. ,,Good, every new guy becomes a crash course in shooting and you're from robotics so it could be useful, because sometimes your machines can get against you, if you program them wrong.", the soldier says and they walk through the metal hallways to the shooting range. ,,Quick things first. You know, that there are six or, if you take it accurately, seven elemental types for weapons. Fire, shock, corrosive, slag, explosion, normal and the E-tech weapons. Fire is good against lightly armored people or animals. Shock is good against enemies with shields. Corrosive is good against your buddies in robotics, means against armored enemies and every roboter has armor. Slag makes an enemy weak against every type of elemental. Explosion just deals really good damage. Normal is well...normal and E-tech weapons are kinda normal too, but the ammo is made with eridium and they don't fire normal bullets.", the soldier explains and they arrive at the shooting range.

After just 10 minutes of shooting, the soldier is despairing with Rhys, because he sucks at shooting. He doesn't hit anything, even when it is in front of him and he always mixes up the effects from the elements. After a few more shots into the wall and not the dummie, the soldier gives up and takes the gun from Rhys. ,,Boy, you're really bad at this, but I think I have a solution.", he says and hands to Rhys a black stick. ,,What is that?", Rhys asks confused and looks at the stick expectantly. _Do I just have to fight with this stick and hope for the best? I will be dead in no time._  ,,It's a stun baton." _Now it makes sense._  Rhys looks around the stick and finds the red button to activate the weapon. Instantly, after he had pushed the button, the stick expands and it starts to flicker with electricity. ,,Look out where you activate this thing. It can kill, you know?", the soldier says a bit unamused and Rhys nods quickly. ,,Sorry, I just wanted to check how it works." The soldier sighs and looks at Rhys. ,,Okay, with the stun baton you can't rip apart Loader Bots, but you can take them out so you're safe." Rhys nods in appreciation and the soldier brings him to his new living space and explains him the way to his new workspace. With a thank you, Rhys goes into his new apartment and the soldier goes somewhere in the station.

His suitcase stands in the middle of the hallway and Rhys puts his clothes into the closet. The suitcase was brought by some Hyperion personal to his apartment. _What a great service._  He knows, that he won't live here all alone. But for now, he's alone and he hopes, that he won't get a crazy or rude roommate. After every piece of clothing is stored in the closet, he starts to hang up the posters he brought with. Rhys _had_  to bring them to Helios, because otherwise Yvette would've burned them. He had to prefent that, because he _bought_  them with his money. Next to the posters he hangs up a few framed photos from himself and his friends. He looks at the photos in thoughts and he really misses his friends. They always sticked together whatever happened and now Rhys has to do this on his own, without the reassurance from Vaughn and the offensive side from Yvette about some topics. _It will be boring, for sure._  He liked to tease Yvette and pull Vaughn into the fight.

Rhys is done with decorating the apartment and likes how it looks. His roommate has enough space to put photos up and other things. Because he's bored and wants to see a bit from Helios, he walks to his workspace.

Of course, he gets lost and has to ask some people for the way. _This is so embarrassing._  After a few times around the wrong corner and going back and forth, he finally made it to the robotics department. _The way is more complicated, than I thought._  Suddenly a black haired man with a thick beard comes out of the doors and runs into Rhys. ,,Hey, can't you stand somewhere else?", the man asks pissed and Rhys excuses himself quickly. ,,I'm new and wanted to check out my new workspace." The man in front of him smoothes back his hair and looks at Rhys annoyed. ,,Okay, well you shouldn't stand in front of doors. I'd like to chat around a bit more, but you wasted enough of my time already, so...Bye!" The unfriendly man walks away and Rhys walks into the department. _What a **nice**  guy, I'm sure we will be best friends._

Rhys doesn't know where he works yet, so he decides to talk to the head of the department and ask the person about it. He knocks softly on the door and hears the okay for coming in. ,,What can I do for you?", the older man asks him, when Rhys closed the door. ,,I'm the new guy, Rhys. I wanted to ask, where my cubicle is.", Rhys explains to the man and the other one nods. ,,Rhys, right? Your cubicle is in the second row, the first one from left. Next to you is Vasquez.", the older man tells him and Rhys thanks him. On a golden sign stands, that the name from the older man is Mr. Henderson. ,,Uhm...can I ask you one more thing, sir?", Rhys asks and gets a nod from his boss. ,,Okay, um...who is the guy with the black hair and beard?" Mr. Henderson laughs lightly and Rhys is confused. ,,That's your neighbour. Hugo Vasquez. You met him don't you? And he wasn't the nicest right?", his boss replies and Rhys nods in shock. _Of course, I have to work next to that guy._  Rhys reminds himself, to not judge over others, when he doesn't know them well. _Probably he just had a bad day and that's why he was so mean._

Rhys lays in his bed in his new apartment and thinks over the whole day. He still can't believe, that he works for Hyperion now and lives in Helios. This is so amazing. He likes every second, that he spends in Helios and he's eager to work tomorrow! Rhys wants to impress his boss and co-workers. _I want to be so good, that even Handsome Jack appreciates my work._  Rhys chuckles lightly, because he knows, that this is nearly impossible and if, then he has to work many years and really hard. _Maybe, I will do it._

Suddenly his ECHO Eye tells him, that he has an incoming call from his parents and accepts the call. ,,Hey, champ.", his mother greets him and he greets her back. ,,And how was the flight?", his father asks him interested and Rhys is surprised, that he's there. ,,Uh...yeah okay. It made my stomach dizzy, but all in all it was really okay.", Rhys answers and prepares himself for many questions. _They are always so eager to know everything._  ,,So did you only meet nice people like you said? And do you like your apartment? Do you miss us and your friends to much? When do you-", his mother asks him many questions, without waiting for an answer, but luckily his father interrupts her. ,,It's fine, mom. Yeah, pretty much just nice guys, I like my apartment and of course I miss you all.", Rhys answers all the questions, after his mother apologized. They asked a few more questions, how his day was in general and such. ,,Mom and dad, I slowly get tired. So uh...maybe I call you tomorrow. Don't miss me too much.", Rhys says and after they said their goodbyes, they hang up. _I think, I like my new life here._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! Thank you for reading this chapter as always!   
> I kinda don't like this chapter very much, but I really like the next chapter and I would love to publish it instantly, so I try to finish the next chapter sooner.  
> Leave comments if you want! :)


	5. Broken Glasses

Rhys builds the cybernetic arm together and sighs quietly. It isn't like he thought it would be. Less invent more build together. He hopes it will get better after a few weeks. _After months maybe._  Rhys already works here for three weeks and has a roommate. From all people, Yvette is his roommate. Rhys is incredibly happy, but he feels bad for Vaughn. He's all alone back on their homeplanet. _Both of his friends are in space._  Yvette didn't told them, that she applied for Hyperion as well, because she thought she wouldn't get accepted. _Well, which company doesn't need a good accountant?_  Rhys is just happy, that he doesn't have a crazy roommate. Yvette and Rhys decided, that they will visit Vaughn, when they have their free days. _Maybe I will stay down there._  Rhys wouldn't ever quit his job here in Helios. He already talked with his boss about the problem and he said, that they can't just invent something. It has to be a request from other departments or Handsome Jack. _This is so boring._

They don't even let him build a Loader Bot or something, because they think he would fuck it up. _I work here for three weeks and know more than Vasquez._  Vasquez, Rhys' cubicle neighbour, works on Loader Bots. Rhys is actually happy about it. Vasquez has to go into the other section of the department and so Rhys doesn't have to hear all the shit from Vasquez. _,,Rhys, Handsome Jack and I are best friends." ,,Rhys, you do this and that wrong!" ,,Rhys, I will eat a sandwich for dinner." ,,Rhys, I will go to the toilet and give good ol' Porcelainey a friend."_  Rhys is annoyed from Vasquez, but he has some cards to play against him. From some co-workers he heard, that his hair is not real and just implants. Another thing is, his nickname is Wallethead and that he first worked in the mail station from Helios. _How did he made it to robotics?_  Rhys doesn't think all too much about it and continues to build on the arm.

Suddenly some workers runs out of the second section from the department and leaves it without looking back. Vasquez runs to his cubicle next to Rhys' and gather his things. ,,What happened?", Rhys asks and stays calm. ,,Uh...someone made a mistake and now a WAR Loader is kinda on a killing spree. Have fun, Rhys.", Vasquez explains and Rhys stops him. ,,As I know, the only person that worked today on a WAR Loader was you. So you should stay and fix _your_  mistake!" Rhys hates Vasquez attitude to always duck away if anything goes wrong. _He should learn to be a goddamn man._  ,,No, no, no! I can't fix that!" Rhys rolls his eyes annoyed and looks at his boss, who leaves the department as well. _We are the only ones left. Great._ Fucking  _great._  ,, _You_  and I will fix this mess, do you understand?" Vasquez nods slowly and Rhys releases him. Rhys grabs his emergency corrosive gun and stun baton. ,,Here take the gun.", Rhys says, while he hands over the gun and they slowly approach the doors. ,,I will kill every human alive." Rhys hears the robotic voice from the Loader Bot. ,,I open the door and you instantly shoot the Loader, okay?" Vasquez nods scared and slowly.

Rhys doesn't have to open the door, it gets opened, because the WAR Loader heard them and shot the door away. ,,Humans, stop fighting and just let me kill you quickly." Vasquez shoots the whole magazine in the direction from the Loader Bot and the robot gets the corrode effect for five seconds. ,,We will die! WE WILL DIE, RHYS!", Vasquez screams and looks like he's about to cry. ,,Get your shit together. Everything will be alright. I just go out and get some guards to help us.", Rhys says annoyed and makes his way to the exit from the robotics department. ,,Wha-Wait! Don't leave me here!" Rhys turns to Vasquez with a little mean smile. ,,Don't worry, I'm not like you. Just make sure the Loader stays here." With that, Rhys sneaks out of the department and quickly searchs for some guards.

After he walked through some hallways, he sees a guard writting something down on a paper. ,,Ah, thank god. Hey, I need your help.", Rhys approaches the man and gets a snort as a answer. ,,Can't you bother someone else with your shit? I try to solve this sodoku.", the guard says and Rhys gets angry. _What?! Sodoku is more important than the lifes from the workers in Helios?_  ,,It's an emergency. A WAR Loader in robotics goes wild and we really need your help, or otherwise we will die." It seems, that the guard really doesn't care about this at all, because he snorts again and still doesn't look up from the paper in his hand. ,,You guys from robotics aren't good for anything. Good luck in trying to solve _your_  problem." _What an asshole._  ,,Then can't you please just call some other guards for help?", Rhys tries it, but the other man doesn't listen to him. _Okay, another plan._  ,,I'm not sorry for this." With that Rhys activates his stun baton and knocks the guard out. He grabs the gun from him and takes the magazine out. ,,Thank you, pal!"

Quickly Rhys runs back to the robotics department and expects that Vasquez is already dead. But when he looks through the door, Vasquez is still alive and the WAR Loader is still in his spot. _Hey, he can do something._  Rhys walks over to Vasquez and gives him the magazine. ,,Where are the guards?", Vasquez asks and loads the gun. ,,Well, they have problems with a sodoku, so they won't come.", Rhys answers a bit nervously and Vasquez looks at him with wide eyes. ,,We won't die, if you shoot this Loader Bot into tiny little pieces." Vasquez again shoots the whole magazine into the Loader Bot, but he's still intact. ,,Oh my god. How bad are you at aiming? Two magazines from a corrosive weapon, which deals pretty good damage? He can't have too much life, when you build him. Actually, he shouldn't even walk with your skills.", Rhys means angry and thinks over his options. ,,Hey, I'm not so bad. You're still in the first section. So called _Loser-Section_." _I can't believe, I will do it._  ,,Okay, stop your whining and shut up." Rhys stands up and runs towards the WAR Loader with his stun baton activated. ,,Have fun dying, asshole!", Vasquez screams behind him and Rhys laughs lightly about this. ,,You can thank me later, Assquez." The WAR Loader shoots in the direction from Rhys, but luckily he sucks at aiming like Vasquez and Rhys gives him the rest with his stun baton into the red eye from the robot. Rhys pulls the weapon out of the eye and deactivates it. He feels proud of the kill. _I'm the Hero of the day._  ,,Okay, Rhys. I though you'd be killed." With a light laugh, Rhys just walks out of the department and to his apartment. _I want to see the face from Yvette, when I tell her that._

He stands in front of the apartment and wants to unlock it, but can't find his keycard. Quickly he searches through every pocket he has, but doesn't find the searched item. With a sigh he leans his forehead against the door. _I lost it. I fucking lost my keycard._  Rhys doesn't want to search for it on the way he just came from. _Someone will return it...hopefully._  So with that, Rhys walks to the department of accounting to get the keycard from Yvette. Yvette is still at work, because it's just afternoon and most departments still have to work. _Mine too, but thanks to the WAR Loader not._

After he got lost again and asked some guys for the way, he finally stands next to Yvette and waits for the keycard. _This space station is too big._  ,,So, what would you do for the keycard? Since you're too dumb to keep an eye out for your own.", Yvette asks and rubs Rhys' mistake into his face again. ,,I buy you lunch for the next two weeks.", he simply answers and she smiles up at him. ,,Three weeks?" _Can't she be happy with_ something _?_  With a sigh, Rhys nods and Yvette hands over her keycard. ,,We have a deal, but please don't lose it, okay?", Yvette means before she walks away and Rhys huffs annoyed. _Okay, she's the worst roommate ever._  He walks back to their apartment and doesn't get lost on the way.

Rhys opens the apartment with Yvettes keycard and steps in their shared home. Surprisingly, he sees his keycard laying on the living room table with a little note. _,,You're sick. - xoxo Handsome Jack"_. _Very funny_. He throws the note into the trashbin and looks around the apartment, if something was stolen, but everything's on its place. _What a rude guy, but hey at least the person is not a thief._  Rhys knows, that the person wrote this, because of his posters, the merchandise and the little keychains. You get your keycard with a ribbon, so Rhys deocrated it a bit. One of them is the H from Hyperion and the other is a tiny plastic Handsome Jack. He bought some merchandise after one week in Helios, because he found a nice little shop with great stuff. Like Hyperion mugs and Handsome Jack figures. _My room looked boring with the empty shelves._

Later that day, Yvette came home and now they sit at the table and eat dinner together. ,,Hey, why the long face?", Yvette asks him and Rhys sighs lightly. ,,Not so important.", he answers and Yvette snorts annoyed. ,,I want an answer and not just _not importan_ )." _Definitely worst roommate possible._  Rhys doesn't really want to tell her why, because he knows he will sound like a idiot, but she asked and didn't took a no. ,,My day was just terrible okay? First it was boring, then suddenly a fucking WAR Loader was on a killing spree, because fucking Assquez doesn't know shit and _I_ had to kill it! Later I lost my damn keycard and saw, that someone was in our apartment with it. But the person didn't steal anything, just wrote a nice little note with ,,You're sick." and left then. This isn't how I imagened my life in Helios!" When Rhys realizes what he said, he quickly apologizes and is embarrassed by himself. ,,My god, Rhys. Get your shit together. Well, then this happened, whatever? You are not dead and hey you killed a robot! Isn't that cool?", Yvette replies with a warm smile and Rhys nods with a small smile too. _Maybe not_ the _worst roommate._  ,,See and you know, tomorrow will be a better day.", she adds and Rhys laughs lightly. ,,Yeah, probably. But you'd know, how I feel, when you would work in robotics and not accounting, where you can't get killed by robots." _She'd totally think differently about the whole situation, if she would be the person get fucked over everytime._  ,,I get killed by boring shit, I have to look through." Rhys rolls with his eyes and shakes his head. ,,That's lame." ,,Not so lame, like your life you imagened." _Okay, maybe tomorrow will be a better day. What worse than that from today can happen anyways?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Badass Rhys saves the day! :D  
> I really like this and the next chapter, because they aren't boring.   
> Hope you did/do as well and see you maybe not in a week.
> 
> Ah and something I always forgot. THANK YOU for all the kudos!


	6. Watch Out For The Splitters

When Rhys woke up, he was motivated and wanted to do some nice things for Yvette. He doesn't have to work, because of the little incident yesterday. Rhys made breakfast for the two of them and it really tasted delicious. ,,Okay, Rhys. This meal is the best you ever have cooked!", was Yvettes comment about it and Rhys was happy to do the dishes. Yvette often pointed out, that Rhys behaved strangely and asked if he's really fine and doesn't have a fever. After Yvette made sure, that _really_  everything's okay with Rhys, she left to work and Rhys cleaned the apartment. With some music from his favourite radio channel, he danced through the apartment with the vacuum cleaner and sang along the songs. _Yep, today is a better day and nothing will ruin it_ , Rhys thought until now and well today is just another bad day for him.

After a last look at the message in shock, he quickly changes his clothes and storms out of the apartment. _Why does this happen to me?_  The message was a simple one, written in one sentence and 11 words. _,,Come to Handsome Jacks office asap, you have time until 10 am."_  Now it's 09:48 am and Rhys will need another ten minutes to be in front of the office. _I will do it, I will do it and not end up dead in space._  Rhys always thought of Handsome Jack as a really nice guy with a little sense for murder, but for just his enemies. He quickly learned, that Handsome Jack kills you if he's in the mood for it, even if you didn't do anything. One of these things, that triggers such a killing mood, is tardiness. If Rhys shouldn't make it in time, he will run back to the shuttles and tries to escape. _I will die, there's no way around that, if I'm late._  Handsome Jack would probably just moonshot his shuttle. _Well, which way is the best to die? Moonshots or suffocate in space?_

**~~~**

Jack looks at the recordings from the cameras and expects to see boring shit. _My employees are always so damn nice. They never break some rules for my entertaining and a kill._  He switches through the recordings like they are TV series. After some time, he switches over the robotics department recordings and sees for a second a Loader Bot rampaging through the department. Jack quickly switches back and enjoys what he sees. Two idiots try to fight against it and the black haired one nearly always misses with his gun. _This is what I wanted. An action movie for free._  The CEO from Hyperion presses a button at his desk and instantly gets connected to his secretary. ,,Hey yo, uh...I don't know your name anymore. Whatever, be a nice lil' secretary and bring me some pretzels. But these with salt, I'm in the mood for classic y'know? Ah and never ever give me the pretzels with Handsome Jack taste. They didn't nearly tasted like me and I should know that, right?" With a wide grin, he leans back and enjoys the movie in front of him. After just a few seconds, his secretary comes into his office and hands him the bag of pretzels he odered. ,,Thank you very much. But you could've brought them a bit earlier, right? Next time, okay? Hey, we make a contest out of that! _The fastest secretary in Helios_? Shit, that's brilliant!", Jack says excited and opens the pretzels. ,,Uh...of course, Handsome Jack sir. I will work on that." With that, the secretary quickly exits the office and Jack enjoys his pretzels. _This is the good stuff._

After just a few minutes the WAR Loader is defeated and the guy, who killed it, walked out of the room laughing. _What a trashy movie. No one died and the guy, who I thought would die, is the fucking savior. Bull-fucking-shit! Who made this movie? I will airlock them instantly!_  Then Jack just realizes, that this was not a movie and just the recording from the robotics department. _Luckily, these guys doesn't make movies. They would suck at it._

On a little note, Jack writes down, that his secretary should arrange a little meeting between Jack and the lanky guy from robotics. _This man really did know what to do and knows how to take the magazine out of a Hyperion weapon. Just a few people really know that and can do it quickly. I can reload my weapon in half a second, because I'm Handsome Jack._  He kinda wants to test the kid as well. Jack looked through the whole footage from the recordings and knows, that the other guy fucked up and caused all of this. He wants to look, if Mr.Hero-Of-Today really is a hero or just an unloyal asshole with some knowledge. _He will sell the man out, when I threat him. He looks like a coward._  With that, Jack gives the order for the meeting to his secretary and finally continues his work.

**~~~**

Jack sits at his desk with his coffee and looks through some offers from other companies. _They are afraid, that Hyperion will play them out. Well, Hyperion **will**  do it, but they don't need to know that now._ He puts the papers away, because they are too boring and it's already 8:30 am. ,,Hey, you can now write the message to the guy from robotics. But please use _asap_  in the sentence too. Then he won't even ponder to be late.", Jack says to his secretary through the speakers and is pleased with himself. _I'm a thoughtful and good boss._  Jack already thought about the meeting and what he will say. He will be the bad and cruel boss to scare the guy so that he maybe faints. _If he should faint, I will wait until he wakes up and then kill him._

**~~~**

Rhys presses the button to call the elevator repeatedly and swears internally. He just has 5 minutes left, because Vasquez decided to talk to him. Luckily Rhys left him alone after one wasted minute and now the elevator won't come down. _I'm dead. I'm SO dead._  Suddenly Rhys hears a bing and jumps into the elevator. Now he just has to arrive at the floor from Handsome Jacks office, without a stop and he's not too late. As it seems, he's lucky for once and no one uses the elevator. But two floors, before the floor he has to go, someone calls the elevator and it stops there. _I will kill this person as a ghost and then their ghost again._  With a big grin Vasquez walks into the elevator and presses the button for the next floor. ,,I hate it, if people just run away from me, you know?", Vasquez says and leans back. ,,And I hate it, if people waste my time.", Rhys replies pissed and grinds his teeth lightly. ,,Oh Rhys, why the mood?" Rhys lets out a desperate sigh and sees, that he just has a minute and he will be late. ,,Maybe, because Handsome Jack will kill me?!" Rhys really wants to bury himself right now and never digs himself up again. ,,I'm sorry, can I come to your funeral?", Vasquez asks casually and Rhys nearly punches him, but the elevator stops and Vasquez leaves it with a broader grin. _I will definitely kill him as a ghost._

When the elevator stops on the floor from Rhys, he leaves it and faces his death. _At least I don't die like a coward and hey I lived my dream!_  ,,What can I do for you?", the woman behind the counter asks him and Rhys steps to her. ,,Uh...I had a meeting with Handsome Jack.", he tells her and she looks lightly confused, but then she remembers it as it seems. ,,Ah, you are Rhys, the guy from robotics. Yeah, sorry. Jack left the office 10 minutes ago, but he will be back in 20 minutes.", she informs him and Rhys thanks her. _I'm not dead! I'm saved!_  ,,You can wait in the office or come again in 20 minutes." Rhys decides, that he will wait in the office, because he doesn't want to risk to be late again. He got a second chance and won't waste it.

Terrified Rhys looks at the brown puddle on the desk from Handsome Jack and tries to clean it. Next to him is the secretary from the CEO and she tries as well to clean the mess, which Rhys caused. Rhys doesn't know if she does it, because she wants to save Rhys or herself. _Today someone really wants to let me suffer until I'm finally dead._  He looked around the office excited and knocked over the coffee from Jack. The fluid is now all over the papers. Some of the papers aren't soaked with coffee and now lay in safety. _Maybe I can just hide the papers and pretend there was nothing?_  Rhys doesn't even get the chance to think futher about that option, because Handsome Jack enters the office in that moment.

,,What are you doin'?", the CEO asks the both of them and Rhys looks at him terrified. _Okay, now are my last moments of my life._  ,,Cleaning as I see.", Handsome Jack answers his own question and steps closer to the desk. Immediately Rhys steps away from Jack and already says apologies. Jack looks at the now brown papers and throws them into the trashbin. ,,Secretary, out of my office. _Now_!" Jack shortly looked at her, when he said that and looked really pissed.

,,So, who of you did that mess?" Rhys knows, he could blame the secretary, but he won't. That's dumb and really rude. ,,I did that.", Rhys says with a sigh and braces himself for everything. ,,Do you know, that you just ruined a deal from over five million dollars?" Quickly Rhys apologizes several times and explains the situation. ,,Your excuses don't give me five million dollars or do they?" _Okay, he will totally kill me!_  If Rhys wouldn't be alive, he would think, he can die because of the coldness in the voice from the other man. ,,M-Maybe I can repay you somehow.", Rhys offers Jack and the older man snorts at that. ,,How do you want to do that? You can't give me the money and you're not _nearly_  worth the money." Rhys nods and accepts his fate.

Handsome Jack steps closer to Rhys and looks him blankly in the eye. ,,Y'know, you're useless for me. You just proved this, so I will have fun getting rid of you.", Jack growls to him and lays his hands around Rhys neck. _He will strangle me to death!_  Panic raises in Rhys and he tries to push of the hands from Handsome Jack. The grip just tightens and Rhys can't really breathe anymore. ,,I'm sorry...Handsome Jack...sir." The grip suddenly loosens and Rhys looks at Jack surprised. Handsome Jack starts to laugh like crazy and Rhys doesn't know what's going. He's happy, that the other man doesn't strangle him but still he's confused.

,,Oh shit, ya should've seen your face. You were so scared.", Jack means and sits down in his chair. ,,What's going on?", Rhys mumbles and touches his neck. ,,I make it simple: The papers you ruined, weren't important and I would've trashed them anyways. So thank you." Rhys still stands there next to the desk and doesn't know what to think. ,,Sit down, pumpkin. Just if you didn't shit yourself. Like literally. Don't do it then." With a nod, Rhys sits down and looks at Jack expectantly.

,,Oh yeah, we had a meeting. I forgot that for a moment.", Jack finally says and leans back. ,,So, yesterday you saved the lifes from your robotics workers. My question is: Who started everything?" He looks at Rhys with a little grin and Rhys thinks his answer over. He can say the truth or lie. _Should I sell him out or protect Vasquez? He doesn't derserve it at all..._  ,,Sorry, I don't know who messed this up. I work in the first section from robotics, not second.", Rhys explains and tries to stay calm. _He owes me one._  ,,Ah, okay. Do you think it was the black haired guy?" _He probably already knows, that Vasquez was it._  ,,I don't know. Sure he works in the second section, but he can't mess it up that much. Maybe someone was drunk or something." Handsome Jack nods and thinks a bit. ,,Okay, yeah. I don't really care about it. I let handle it the department head, because I have enough things to take care of." _Finally through with that topic._  ,,Now tell me, how can you change a magazine from a Hyperion pistole so fast? Usually newbies take their time to do that.", Jack continues his row of questions and Rhys feels relieved. _I won't die today._  ,,I had a plastic Hyperion gun and learned to change the magazine. I was a bit possessed with Hyperion.", Rhys admits and the older man laughs lightly at that. ,,Typical fanboys."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay finally Jack's in the house! :D  
> I really had so much fun writing his dialogs, because they are so dumb. xD


	7. Molted Glass

With a wide grin, Rhys stands in the elevator and feels incredibly happy. He survived twice a death from the hands of Handsome Jack. _That is something, that nearly no one can say from themselves._  They didn't even talked about important things, just about the stuff Rhys did yesterday. But still Rhys is just happy he's still alive. Well, he still has a small bruise from the strangling on his throat. Rhys really didn't thought about _this_ , when he thought how it will be when he works for Hyperion. Less exciting more normal work. He probably would have stared at Jack for a few minutes with awe, but with the circumstances he didn't really wanted to look at the man at all. _In personal he's more handsome._  He quietly laughs about this thought and leaves the elevator.

Rhys runs into Vasquez on his way back to the apartment. ,,Oh hey, you're still alive! Congratulations!", Vasquez means to him with a grin and Rhys shakes his head. ,,Thank you. But because of you, I nearly would've died." Vasquez waves it away, as it's nothing to die. ,,So, about what did you talk?", Vasquez asks him and Rhys is surprised about the sudden interest. ,,About the incident yesterday." After Rhys said that, instantly Vasquez looked at him madly and grabbed him by the collar. ,,You told him, that I was it, right? You want to see me dead!" Rhys tries to break free from the grip, but Vasquez is really mad right now. ,,Vasquez, calm down, jeez. I didn't told him that. I said, that I don't know who did it, because I work in the first section not second.", Rhys explains him and Vasquez let go of him. ,,Uh...of course I knew, you wouldn't do such a thing. Just wanted to fool you, y'know?" _Oh yeah,_ of course. _I didn't got fooled enough today_. Vasquez quickly walks away from Rhys and leaves him alone. _A thank-you is too much, isn't it?_

**~~~**

Yvette and Rhys sit on the couch and talk with Vaughn over the communicator from Rhys. ,,And how was your day, Bro?", Vaughn asks him and Rhys laughs lightly. ,,Ah, pretty exciting. I had a meeting with Handsome Jack and nearly died." Now Yvette and Vaughn look at him like he's insane. ,,What?" Yvette punches his shoulder lightly and Vaughn just huffs. ,,Are you serious? You didn't told me! About what talked you two? How did this happened at all?!", Yvette asks him agitated and Rhys shushes her. ,,I'll tell you." And with that he sums up the happenings from yesterday for Vaughn and then told them about today.

,,Holy shit, Rhys! This is awesome! You talked with Handsome Jack _and_  killed a Loader Bot, what Handsome Jack saw as well! I bet he thinks you are a badass.", Vaughn nearly shouts to his friends and Rhys feels kinda proud of himself. ,,Nah, that was not so cool, you know?" Yvette again punches him and Rhys looks at her lightly pissed. _My arm starts to hurt!_  ,,Don't be so modest about it! You fucking defeated a WAR Loader. _WAR_  Loader. This big robot with the two huge cannons!" They continue to talk about this and that until midnight. _I miss Vaughn. He really should work here in Helios. It would be awesome._

**~~~**

Jack watches the video over and over and still laughs at the expressions from the robotics guy. _I could be an actor!_  If Jack is serious, he didn't thought the meeting would go like that. He thought it would be boring and end with a kill, but it was the opposite. Jack's just a little bit impressed from the guy. _But he has a stupid name. **Rice**! Who calls his kid Rice? Poor guy._  Rice didn't said, that the other guy caused the incident. _Maybe he really doesn't know it or he's really dumb and kind._  With a shrug, Jack watches the video for the last time and then turns off the monitor laughing. _He's different than the others. Less asshole more brains. We need more of those guys._  A thought crosses his mind, but he doesn't want to think of it yet. _A promotion is too early and I don't even know if it's worth it. I will wait and look how efficient he is._  Jack writes a little note for himself and continues to look through the offers from the other companies.

**~~~**

With a smile, Rhys works on his very first Loader Bot. He got promoted a week ago to the second section and Vasquez back to the first one. Vasquez didn't talked to Rhys anymore, because of that. _He can't blame me for his lack of skills._  Rhys doesn't care about that so much, he's happy to build on Loader Bots and after a few weeks he feels really motivated to work. His Loader Bot is nearly finished, it just needs a voice modulator and then it's good to go. Rhys installs the voice modulator and tests it. ,,What's your name?", he asks the Loader Bot and feels so dumb for asking a robot for its name. Instead of a normal answer, the Loader Bot kinda screams and Rhys quickly fixes it. _The voice modulator isn't working._  ,,Thank you, human. I like my new voice, it sounds sexy.", the Loader Bot says and whistles for itself. ,,Wow, who programmed your voice modulator? Whatever, just don't say something like that ever again.", Rhys replies and deactivates the robot.

After he checked the Loader Bot for any mistakes, Rhys goes to his boss, because he doesn't know what to do. His only task was to build a Loader Bot and he finished this earlier than he thought. He softly knocks on the door and enters it quickly, when his boss gives him the okay. ,,What's the matter, Rhys? Something with Vasquez?", Mr. Henderson asks him with a light grin and Rhys shakes with his head. ,,Ah no, he ignores me mostly. I wanted to ask what I can do next. I finished the Loader Bot." Mr. Henderson looks at him surprised and praises him for the quick work. ,,You can do whatever you want.", he then says and Rhys already knows what he's gonna do. ,,Can I take notes?" Mr. Henderson nods and smiles then. ,,If you write down some insults on me, please hide the paper, okay?" With a nod, Rhys goes out of the office and to his cubicle in the first section.

On a piece of paper he writes some ideas down for a new type of Loader Bot. _Even when Mr. Henderson said, that we can't just invent something new, I'll write this down and who knows maybe someday it'll be helpful?_  Rhys thought about a hybrid made out of a WAR-, BUL- and ION-Loader. The weapons like the WAR Loader and the shields like the other two types. A force field and a metal shield for emergencies. But he also has a idea for a complete different Loader Bot. A small one with a function to disguise itself as a little metal cube. _It would be good as a spy, maybe to eavesdrop on other companies?_  Hours pass, while he writes down ideas for the new Loader Bots, some of them are more serious and for combat, others are just dumb and for entertainment. Rhys is pretty happy with the ideas for them, but he knows that they probably never be something real.

**~~~**

,,Hey, Rhys!", his parents greed him on the ECHO communicator. He lays in his bed and will definitely sleep after the call, because this day was too exhausting. ,,Hi, what's up?" He yawns and his mother rolls with her eyes slightly. ,,We're fine, but we still miss you.", his mother answers and Rhys laughs lightly about that. _I'm happy, that everything is settled between us._  ,,I miss you too, but hey in a month I have my free days! Then I will visit you." They are silent for a few moments and they follow their own thoughts. ,,So...you were pretty sad a week ago and we're concerned about you. We want to see you happy, so if you want, you could always quit your job at Hyperion and come back down to us. You wouldn't have to worry about money or anything. We would take care of that until you found a new job at a nicer company.", his father means and Rhys gives them a warm smile. _They worry_ way _too much about me._  ,,Thank you, really. But I will stay at Hyperion. The start is always tough and not the most fun. Right now, I'm really happy and motivated to work here. Still, thank you very much." They nod and smile at him. ,,We're so proud of you. I already told your aunt about that and she's really jealous, because her son works in a smaller company.", his mother tells him and he laughs quietly with a shake of his head. They talk a bit, but quickly hang up, because Rhys gets too tired and he has to work tomorrow. With a small smile, Rhys falls asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have to say so much, as thank you for the kudos and hope you liked the chapter!  
> So yeah see you next time!


	8. Friendship Bonus

Rhys sits at his desk and programs a voice modulator for a Loader Bot. In the first weeks in the second section, he learns how to put together a Loader Bot and how to build the single parts for the robot in general. It's not the most exciting thing in the world, but better than just putting together cybernetics. And Rhys likes to learn new things. He's impressed how much things you have to program for a little voice modulator for a robot, which will be destroyed in a few months. You have to program the alphabet into the modulator and Rhys wants to mess with the little device in his hands, like let the robot speak in poems or haikus. He resists the urge and makes the modulator normal, so that the robot won't say things like _I ask you why, why you let me die?_

**~~~**

Just when Rhys thought, he wouldn't ever hear something from Handsome Jack again, he got a message from his secretary. Sure Rhys was a bit upset about the thought to never hear something from the powerful man again, but he was more relieved than everything. He could've died there in the office from the man and he doesn't like the idea of dying now. Or in the next 20 years. If he wouldn't know the stories about Handsome Jack and wouldn't have experienced the incidents in the office, he would be really sad about the idea of not speaking to Handsome Jack again. But no, he wants to live more. Unfortunately, Jack decides to talk to him again about _something_  and Rhys does _not_  want to meet the man again. _This man is like a shark. Friendly in the beginning, but if you piss him off, he will bite your head off._  In the message stands, that Rhys can come by any time he wants, but he wants to have it over as quickly as possible. So he walks to his boss and will ask him, if he could quit work for some minutes.

After a few minutes, he sits in front of his boss and now he kinda hopes, that Mr. Henderson will deny his question. ,,So, what's the matter, Rhys?", the older man asks and Rhys nods before he answers. ,,I got a message from the secretary of Handsome Jack. He wants to meet me and I want to ask, if I could quit work to go to the meeting." His boss looks at him with wide eyes and Rhys doesn't feel very good about the meeting. ,,Sure, you work a bit too fast anyway." _Dammit!_  Rhys thanks his boss and leaves the office. ,,I won't find another good employee like him!", Rhys hears his boss mumbling before he closes the door. _Great, no one believes in me, surviving this meeting._  With a sigh, Rhys makes his way to the elevators.

**~~~**

Rhys didn't hurry to arrive at the office quickly, because he didn't had a time limit and he wanted to delay his death. He still stood quicker in front of the secretary than the last time, where he _had_  a time limit. _I hate my life._

He shakes his head and enters the office from the CEO of Hyperion. In his mind he already made a list with things, he wants to do, if he survives the meeting. The yellow huge chair from Jack is facing the other way to the window and Rhys is really confused. _The secretary said, he's in his office._  Rhys is now a bit calmer, because he has more minutes to live. Suddenly the chair turns and Jack looks at him with a wide grin. ,,I've been waiting for you.", Jack says in a low voice and Rhys looks at him questioning. He's sure he heard this sentence in a movie before. Then it makes click and he has to hide his laughter. _Wow, he didn't just...okay now I'm not afraid anymore._  ,,Of course, you waited. You wanted to meet me.", Rhys answers and steps closer to the man. ,,Awww, c'mon. You ruined everything, pumpkin." Rhys apologizes with a grin and sits down after Jack told him to. ,,You wanted to talk to me about something.", Rhys starts and Jack nods.

,,Yeah, about your work. You're a good employee and holy crap you had awesome grades in school. So I thought to myself, what I can do with ya. I think about a promotion. Head Of Robotics, huh?", Jack tells Rhys and Rhys doesn't believe his ears. ,,Uh...oh my god. Thank you, sir. I would love to work as the Head Of Robotics, but what is with Mr. Henderson?" Rhys said that really fast and in such an excited tone, that he immediately apologizes to Jack. ,,Don't get your panties wet, kitten. You will get the promotion _when_  Mr.Henderson isn't anymore and you proved yourself." Jack laughs lightly about the enthusiasm from Rhys and Rhys is slightly embarrassed. ,,And how do I prove myself?", Rhys asks and is worried about the challenge. _Will I be ready to do it? To_ impress  _Handsome Jack?_  ,,Nothing impossible. Just build me a Loader Bot, but with a new feature. I don't care, which kind of Loader Bot you modify or what feature it has. Just something...special. Like myself.", Jack answers and grins again. ,,Sure, I can do that. How much time?" Rhys hopes, he gets enough time, because he really wants to do his job good. ,,A month.", Jack simply answers and Rhys looks at him surprised. _I will fuck it up._  ,,What? You managed to build a normal Loader Bot within a week." _Yeah, but I already had all the parts and I didn't had to think of something new._  ,,Okay, yeah. I will figure it out."

Rhys thinks, that the meeting is over, because Jack doesn't say something and so he stands up to leave. ,,Wait, Rice. I'm not done with you yet.", Jack says and Rhys looks at him confused again. ,,Rice? My name is Rhys.", Rhys replies instantly and sits down again. ,,Rice, Rhys. Both stupid names. I wanted to ask you, what your ambition is. No one has such good grades, when they doesn't follow a dream.", Jack tells him and Rhys thinks his answer over and over. ,,You're right. I really had a dream. I always wanted to work for Hyperion or take a step on Helios, even in primary school. Everyone in school and even my parents told me, I could never work for Hyperion, but I never gave up, so I did my best to have the best grades in school and learn as much as I could about Hyperion. Later I got cybernetics myself and I worked very much to afford them from Hyperion. So yeah, I did my best to work my way up to Helios. Now I really hope to work directly under you or work my way up more.", Rhys explains to him and Jack listens to him quietly. ,,I'm sorry to bring it to you, but that sounds pretty naive. Of course it's sweet from ya, but right now you are just some guy from robotics and nothing more. Don't put your dreams too high.", Jack replies coldly and Rhys feels anger in his heart. It really does hurt to hear such a thing from the CEO himself. ,,What? Shouldn't  _you_  be more supportive to your employees?" Rhys doesn't care, if he upset the other man somehow. He just wants to tell Jack, that he shouldn't be such an asshole about dreams. ,,You're not in a position to tell me how to do my job, kitten. I do it, how I want and I don't want naive idiots as my workers, like you." Jack still smiles and he doesn't sound pissed in the slightest. ,,Oh yeah, you just want manipulative idiots." Jack laughs away the comment and grins at Rhys. ,,I really think, you should fly back to your homeplanet and be...I don't know. Maybe a farmer? You could be the CEO from the fruits and vegetables! That's awesome, isn't it? You could even give me friendship bonuses, like discounts or other offers.", Jack says and Rhys is about to burst and just yell at the older man about his stupidity, but he calms himself down and starts to smile at Jack. ,,I won't _ever_  be a farmer and _if_  then of course you would get friendship bonuses. It would cost twice more than normally, because we're _really_  good friends.", Rhys agrees and stands up. He has enough of the man. ,,That would be nice, **Rice**. See you in a month with my awesome Loader Bot!" With a light nod and a confident smile, Rhys leaves Handsome Jacks office.

~~~

After Rhys has left the office, the CEO grins to himself and is satisfied with the meeting. Jack didn't thought, the boy would have a sore spot in this direction. He looks more like the type, that gives up easily and doesn't believe in something for long. First it wasn't Jacks intention to make the kid angry, but he just went with it and he didn't expect Rhys to counter him. _This guy has some serious balls to tell me how to do my job._  Jack starts to like him, because he's not a coward or a huge asshole and he actually stands behind something. Probably Jack would have killed him, if he wasn't interested in the result from the little challenge Jack gave him. He believes, that he will pull it off and will impress him. _Hopefully I don't expect to much from him._  Jack doesn't want a Loader Bot made out of gold or something, just like he said. Something special. _Maybe, he will get the promotion instantly, if he does his job good._  The CEO leans back and feels really good. _Either way, I will have my fun with him. If he fails, I will kill him and if he has success, than I have a new Loader Bot._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sassy McSass Rhys activated! xD
> 
> I'm sorry, that I didn't uploaded earlier, but AO3 just crashed when I was about to upload it and so I had to edit it again.   
> (I still hate it to edit my chapters xD)  
> Yeah, hope you liked this chapter! Maybe leave a comment with critic? It would help me a lot to improve if there is something wrong with how I write things! Thank you!


	9. Murder

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry for keeping you waiting.  
> School started again and I wanted to take a break from the story, so that I come back with new motivation for it.  
> I didn't wanted it to take over a week! Sorry again and hope you like the chapter!

The news hit Rhys pretty hard and he is thankful for the few free days. Mr. Henderson, his boss, is dead. He was killed two days ago and still no one knows who did it. The security cameras were turned off and no one saw something or someone. Rhys isn't dumb and knows, that he's probably the main suspect. He talked with Handsome Jack about the promotion and Jack said, that he only can get the job, _when_  Mr. Henderson is dead or makes a huge mistake. So, Rhys had a motive. But he didn't killed him. In the night Mr. Henderson died, Rhys was at home and worked a bit on the special Loader Bot. Rhys is really surprised, that nobody showed up to ask him questions or something. _It'll happen sooner or later._

Of course, Rhys was right and a few hours later a woman knocks at the door from his apartment. Her name is Meg and Rhys recognizes her as the secretary from Handsome Jack. Meg says, she wants to talk with him about the happenings from two days ago. Rhys knows, that she talks about the death from Henderson. ,,So, Rhys. My first question is: How close were you with Henderson?", the woman asks him and Rhys thinks a bit about the answer. ,,We had a good partnership. He was not an asshole and I actually did something for the department, so yeah we got along.", Rhys answers and tries his best to stay calm. If he starts to stutter and stoping mid-sentence, he looks so much more suspicious. ,,Okay, and what do you think: Why did someone kill Henderson? He didn't deserve this kind of end.", she continues and Rhys answers without thinking this time. ,,Probably because of the job. Who doesn't want to be the Head Of Robotics?" Meg looks at him surprised and Rhys notices his _huge_ mistake. ,,Uh...but more possible is, that he got killed because he had a fight with someone and got a new enemy." The woman nods and Rhys gets more nervous. _Dammit, calm down already. I'm not guilty!_  ,,Would you say, you wouldn't like to have the job as the Head Of Robotics? It's a pretty good job and they pay really good." Rhys thinks about his options, he could lie and say he doesn't want the job or he's honest. _I will die._  ,,To be honest, I would really like to have the job, but not only because of the money. I have more responsibility and it's a bigger challenge. But I wouldn't ever kill for the job. That's just really immoral and cowardly. I prefer to work for my money.", he tells her and she looks at him surprised but it turns into a smile. ,,Thank you very much for your time, Rhys. It's really brave telling the truth about such a thing and I'm impressed.", she says and walks back to the door.

**~~~**

Jack reads over the list and marks some names. More correctly, there are just two names marked. **Rhys**  and **Vasquez**. They both are kinda suspicious, because they both want to be the head of the department. Rhys has more of a motive for the kill, because their talk, but Jack doesn't think of the guy like a murderer. Vasquez already fucked up a Loader Bot and got kinda demoted for it. He could've killed Henderson out of revenge and for a slightly better chance than Rhys. Rhys probably spread the word, that he maybe gets the promotion to Head Of Robotics and so Vasquez heard it too. He killed Henderson and hopes, that Rhys gets the punishment so that he gets the job. _I'm a damn fine detective._  Jack still sends his secretary down to talk to Rhys about the death. He just wants to let the man a bit suffer and he's curious, if he stays brave and won't be a coward.

With a wide grin, Jack listens to the dialog between the two and he likes how it turned out. Rhys was honest the whole time and got really nervous at some point. _He's still naive, but maybe I can accept that._  Jack won't ever say it out loud, but he really liked the last answer from Rhys. It reminds him of himself, when he first came to Helios. He thought he wouldn't ever kill a person, okay one person he would've killed either way. _I hope for the guy, he doesn't have to grow up so fast like me. He can lose his naivety in pieces and over time._  Jack quickly shakes his head to ban the thoughts from the past from his mind and gives his secretary the order, to talk to Vasquez too. In the time, his secretary talks to Vasquez, Jack looks at the recordings from the floors in front of the apartment from Rhys. He just wants to make sure, that Rhys really didn't lied and maybe left his apartment late at night. But Jack quickly sees, that Rhys came home in the evening and then didn't left his apartment.

**~~~**

Rhys doesn't know which Loader Bot, he should use. The big one with the guns or the tiny one with the camera? He prefers the tiny one, because it doesn't need so much time to build and he gets the parts quicker. Rhys is not so high in the hierarchy, so that he can just order guns. The Loader Bot is not very good for combat and it's just a test version for other robots. It will have a force field and a camera, plus some features. Like calling guards or a medical team, answering questions quickly and disguise itself as a metal cube. The shield he gets from an ION-Loader, the camera he can simply build into the eye, the disguise will be programmed into it and the rest he just takes from an ECHO Eye. _This will take me the whole month._  But Rhys is happy about the challenge. He can invent something and he won't get bored in the next time.

**~~~**

After two days Rhys had the plan for the Loader Bot ready and now he can start getting the parts together. First he needs the _shell_  for the Loader Bot. For that, he goes to a co-worker and asks him, if he could build him a Loader Bot case, but in tiny. The guy looks at him surprised, but still nods to do it. Rhys knows, that this will take him a week or so to build and in the meantime, he can organize the other parts. He grabs a voice modulator and a shield from an ION-Loader Bot. The shield is too big for the tiny Loader, so Rhys removes some unnessecary parts. So that the shield is not too heavy for the Loader Bot, but still can activate a shield that it's larger than him, so that Jack or other persons are in safety as well.

Suddenly someone tips him on the shoulder and he looks over his shoulder, expecting his boss or someone else from robotics. Instead Rhys nearly falls out of his chair, when he realizes Jack stands behind him. He heard the other people in the department rushing out of the room or inhaling sharply. Rhys thought it was because someone fucked up again, so he didn't paid it much mind. He has to work on this thing. ,,Ya know, I hate it, when I get ignored.", Handsome Jack says to him in a deep voice and Rhys feels goose bumps spreading over his body. ,,Sorry, I just was too occupied with the Loader Bot for you.", Rhys answers nervously and Jack pats his shoulder with a quiet laugh. ,,That's good! I don't have too much time, to talk to you, so if you excuse me, my people need me. Keep up the work! I'm really excited what you will show me." With that Jack leaves the department and the other people around Rhys can finally breathe again.

Over the next days, he programs the voice modulator with some special responses to Handsome Jack and in the end, Rhys is actually really proud of the outcome. _Jack will love this robot._  Then he puts the camera and other technology into the case from the Loader Bot. The size from the Loader is perfect and when he's a cube, you won't immediately see him.

**~~~**

At the end from the month, Rhys sits in front of his own Loader Bot. He runs some final tests, so that he's full funtioning and won't explode or something. The camera records, when you say _king_  and stops with the word _queen_. The code words are stupid, but Jack can reporgram it, if he wants. All in all, it only gets controlled with your voice, in that case just from the voice from Handsome Jack and Rhys. When Rhys leaves the department, he's happy how his Loader Bot turned out and he's looking forward to the promotion. Rhys completed the requirments from Jack and that pretty good. This Loader Bot is really special.

**~~~**

Jack was looking forward to this day from the very start with so much hope and anticipation. But today is the day to look over the result from the kid and even if Jack said, it shouldn't be something really great, he _wants_  to see something really great. Jack expects a normal seized Loader Bot with some cool features and a shield, when he saw it right. Unfortunately Rhys can't be there too for the testing, because he has to work on a really important thing for the department. They got an order from over one hundred cybernetics and to finish the order in time, Rhys has to work now.

In R&D, he gets lead to the testing room for the Loader Bot. When Jack enters the room, he wonders where the hell the Loader Bot is. ,,Hey, nerd with a pickle nose! Yeah you, don't you dare look away!" After Jack gets the attention from the guy, he continues to speak with him. ,,Where the hell is the Loader Bot from Rhys? I don't have time and in the time I already wasted, I could've airlocked y'all.", Jack asks pissed and the guy points to the ground on a metal cube. ,,T-T-That's the L-Loader Bot.", he says and Jack crouches down to get a closer look at the robot. ,,How the fuck do I activate it?" It's more mumbled to himself than to the R&D guys, but still someone hands him a paper sheet. ,, _Commands for the Loader Bot..._ ", Jack reads to himself and searchs for the command to activate it. ,, _Pretzels_." The Loader Bot unfolds itself and Jack chuckles lightly about the activation word. ,,SELF-DESTRUCTION in 5 seconds!", the Loader Bot says and Jack quickly turns to leave the room. ,,Out of the room, **_now_**! This thing _will_ explode!" Everybody flees out of the room and luckily the robot explodes after everyone is in safety. _I'm really disappointed. It's an attempted murder. I thought he would impress me._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bla


	10. New Jobs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yesterday I uploaded chapter 11 instead of chapter 10.   
> I'm sorry for the spoiler to anyone who have read it already, I don't know how I could mix up the two chapters! :(  
> I will upload the next chapter next weekend, I think.

Jack waits in his office for Rhys and the kid is lucky, that he's finally pass the boiling rage he felt. Now he just wants to get this over and move on with his life as the CEO from Hyperion. _I should really kill him, but that would not satisfy me. I want to see him suffer._  Jack thought this over and will just fire him. Sure he won't die, but the kid wanted to work for Hyperion since he's young and now Jack will crush this dream into thousand little pieces. Rhys will never work for Hyperion again and he steps away like a loser.

The doors open and Rhys walks up to him with a light smile. That pisses Jack off and he wants to change his plans completely. Rhys sits down, after Jack motions his hand into the direction from the chair. ,,So your little robot was successful.", Jack says to Rhys neutral and the smile on Rhys face grows wider. Jack really has to hold himself from strangling the guy instantely. He stands up and walks closer to Rhys. _I will wipe away this smile from his face for_ forever _._  In the second Rhys looks at Jack so close, his smile falls immediately and he wants to say something. But he gets cut off from a flat hand across his face. Rhys' head flies to the side and he hisses loudly. ,,Why did you hurt me?", Rhys asks him angryly and Jack smiles to him. ,,You asshole...don't play the dumb one! You tried to murder me with your fucking Loader Bot!", Jack answers loudly and Rhys looks at him confused. _He's a good actor, should change his directions and hopefully die in an accident._  ,,I wanted to activate him and then he exploded. He could've exploded in my hands and kill me...but that was your intention." Rhys' eyes widen and then he apologies over and over. Jack nearly slaps him again, but he doesn't want to waste energy on him. ,,Shut the fuck up! I had enough of your lies. You're fired and your shuttle flies in 30 minutes. If you don't get it then, I will give you an exclusive ride from the airlock.", Jack says and walks back around his desk. ,,No, sir! Please! Let me look over the files! He should work and not like that!", Rhys pleads and Jacks nerves start to run thin, so he throws him out of his office. The last look Jack granted Rhys, the guy nearly cries and still pleads. With a disappointed look, Jack simply closes his doors and locks them.

**~~~**

While Rhys slides down the wall of his apartment, he sends messages to Vaughn and Yvette about the news. Yvette has to know, that she will live alone from now on and Vaughn has to know, that he has a new roommate. With a heavy sigh, he stands up and packs his stuff together. He just puts his clothes and the merchandise into the suitcase. The pictures of him and his friends he leaves there, because then Yvette has some decor. Rhys puts the keycard on the living room table and leaves the apartment.

Rhys sits in the shuttle and waits for it to start. In his head there is just one question. One heavy question. _Why didn't the Loader Bot work?_  Rhys can't explain it. He checked every command over and over until he knew them from memory. _Everything worked!_  With his face in his hands, he starts his way home.

At some point, Rhys turns on the radio to distract himself from his own thoughts. ,,Hey! Ya want to be awesome like me? Well, you will never be, so don't even wish it, because you are a loser and an advice from Handsome Jack himself: Kill yourself! But with a Hyperion weapon. We have a new line of badass pistols, that will do the job pretty awesome and better than you could ever do a job. Buy now and you get a free coffin with the Hyperion logo extra!", Rhys hears Handsome Jacks voice from the radio and Rhys immediately turns off the radio. _I hate this guy._

**~~~**

The shuttle flies slower to the ground and before it lands, Rhys gets a bit shaked around. _I hate flights_. Rhys leaves the shuttle quickly and wants to grab his suitcase. But he gets turned around and hugged by Vaughn. Rhys wraps his arms around his best friend and thanks Vaughn in his thoughts. _This is what I needed after this terrible day_. ,,I'm sorry about what happened.", Vaughn says quietly and rubs the back from Rhys. ,,Hey, you don't need to be.", Rhys replies and they drive together back to the apartment they shared a few months ago.

After the short ride, they bring Rhys' suitcase to his old room and then sit down on the couch with a beer. ,,I know that this sounds really selfish, but I'm happy that you're back. Not like: _Hey you don't deserve the job_ , more like _I'm your best bro and I missed you._ I felt really lonely after Yvette left.", Vaughn admits and drinks some of his beer. ,,No no, it's fine. I would feel the same, if my best friends would leave me alone on a planet and be somewhere in space.", Rhys agrees with him and Vaughn still apologizes for it.

,,So, why did Handsome Jack fire you at all?", Vaughn asks after some time and Rhys doesn't like the question, but Vaughn deserves an answer. So he tells his best friend the story, how he fucked up pretty badly. ,,What an ass, he didn't even let you check over your files. Just because you disappointed him.", Vaughn means lightly pissed and Rhys pats his arm to calm him down. ,,It's in the past. But that I disappointed him, is the worst part about it. He really thought I could do it, could impress him." They continue to sit like this for several hours and later Yvette joins in over the ECHO comm. Rhys has to tell her the whole story too and Vaughn and Yvette starts to argue about how much of an ass Handsome Jack is. That amuses Rhys kinda and he's thankful for his friends.

**~~~ 1 Week later ~~~**

A week ago, Rhys got fired and his mood got only worse from then. First his own thoughts made him depressed, then his friends a little bit and of course his parents. They told him, he could work for other companies and that they are totally better. The point is, Rhys doesn't want to work for another company. _Hyperion is just the best._ He knows, that he should look forward and somehow distract himself. But he's just too depressed to do anything and so he just lays around in his bed and thinks about all the possibilities he could've had, if the Loader Bot would've worked. _Maybe I can be a psychologist? I diagnosed my own depression, so why not make a business out of it?_  Rhys can't even lightly chuckle about this dumb thought. _Hyperion wouldn't need a psychologist_.

Suddenly someone knocks at Rhys' door and Rhys doesn't even look up to greet the person. ,,Come in.", he yells into his pillow and Vaughn comes into the room. ,,Hey, maybe you want to talk to Yvette some?", Vaughn asks softly and Rhys turns around to look at his friend. ,,Yeah sure, why not.", Rhys answers and he connects the call to his own ECHO comm. ,,What's up, depressi?", Yvette greets him and Rhys growls lightly at her. ,,Aww come on, you can't just hang around in the bed and do nothing. Go outside with Vaughn and grab yourself a girl for the night!", Yvette demands but Rhys doesn't react to it. ,,Rhys, this is not a conversation, if you don't talk to me." Rhys sighs and sits up. ,,Okay, what do you want to hear from me? Maybe that I will work soon or that I'm the happiest person alive?", Rhys replies tired and Yvette snorts. ,,You are in a great mood as I see. I'm just worried about you, I want to hear and see you smile again." Rhys apologizes for his mood and for the mean reply. _She really just wants the best for me._

,,Yvette, do you know, who's the new Head Of Robotics?", Rhys asks and hopes so much, that it's not Vasquez. _He's too dumb for the job._  ,,I don't know it yet, but I heard that Vasquez doesn't have good chances.", Yvette answers and Rhys feels really relieved. ,,Yvette, do you come to the party for Vasquez, because he's the new Head from Robotics?", someone asks in the background and Rhys falls back into the pillows. _Now my life doesn't make any sense anymore._  ,,Rhys, please. Don't be mad and or sad. It's just because no one else wanted the job and that's the truth. You are so much more skilled than him.", Yvette answers after she answered the guy with a clear **no**. ,,It doesn't change that Vasquez has the job." For a short time, it's quiet between the two and Rhys thinks about hanging up. ,,Don't be down now, hey I can tell you jokes, so that you are a bit happier! I just change the names to Vasquez and then you will laugh!", Yvette suggests and Rhys has to chuckle lightly. ,,Okay, I've got a good starter for you! Can Vasquez get a headache? Of course not! And why? No brain, no pain!" Rhys laughs lightly about it and thanks her already for the distraction.


	11. Mistakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, again. I didn't had the time to upload anything, because of school :(

Vasquez _sucks_  as the head from the robotics department and Jack hates it. He hoped, that he would at least try to not suck so bad now when he's higher. But no Vasquez thinks, that he doesn't have to work at all because he's so high and important. Jack wants to demote him so badly and he _would_ , if he would have a replacement for him. _There is one..._  He shakes his head to ban this thoughts from his mind. _Rhys fucked more up than Vasquez._  With a sigh Jack looks back at the papers. He loses so much money, because of the robotics department. They work slower, some of them even quit the job and everything because of the lack of leadskills from Wallethead. Jack doesn't mind the money so much, he's a trillionaire for the love of god. But he doesn't like it, when a department from _his_  company doesn't work.

After an internal debate, Jack opens the security footage from the day before the testing from him. Rhys said, that the Loader Bot worked and that he just left him in the department. _Maybe someone sabotaged the robot._  He skips the part, where Rhys tests the robot and watched the rest from the video in faster speed. Jack is too curious about the result, so that he doesn't have the patience to look a video from about seven hours. For several minutes the screen stays black and Jack can just make out the frame from the Loader Bot. Then the door from the department opens and a black haired man walks into it. _Well, Vasquez. What is your plan?_  He walks straight to the Loader Bot and opens it with violence. After that Vasquez rips out some parts and after he did something to them, he builds them back into it. _You asshole_. Jack turns off the video and grinds his teeth. He can't rush things now, so he won't talk to Vasquez about it, but he will give Rhys a second chance to build the Loader Bot.

**~~~**

One last look behind his shoulder and Jack leaves his office. He knows, that he doesn't have to do this, but he does. _And not to make up for my_ mistake. _I just want to show, that I can be a nice CEO as well._  So, Jack enters the best shuttle from Hyperion and starts his way down to pick up Rhys.

Jack stops in front of a rather big house and he is actually surprised, that Rhys and some of his friends were able to buy such a house. _He won't live at the house from his parents anymore._  With a shrug he rings at the door and waits patiently. After a short while a woman opens the door and Jack takes back what he thought about Rhys. ,,Yes, hello?", she asks with a light smile and Jack returns it. ,,Hello, I'm here to speak to Rhys. So is he around?" The woman in front of him laughs lightly and Jack can tell, that she's definitely older than him. _I'm not old at all._  ,,Sorry, he lived here, but he moved out.", she tells him and Jack rolls his eyes annoyed. ,,Of course, he did. What an idiot!", Jack mutters and asks the woman, if he could get the new adress from Rhys. She gives him the adress quickly and Jack thanks her. _He's the first one to give us the adress from his parents house. Dumbass_. ,,Sorry, for the disturbance, but can I ask one more question?", Jack asks her and she nods happily. ,,Did Rhys ever talked about a Handsome Jack? He's the CEO from Hyperion I think." The woman thinks about it shortly and then she nods again. ,,Yes, he did and sometimes he couldn't stop talking about this guy. I don't know, what's so special about him, but there has to be something." Jack tries his best to hide his laughter and so he just grins. Quickly, he thanks the mother from Rhys again and then leaves her alone. _He's such a dork._

After a short drive, Jack stands in front of a residential building. _That looks more like it._  He rings at the right apartment and a short guy opens him the door. ,,Holy shit, you're short. Are you really a fully grown man?", Jack offends him and shorty looks at him slightly angry. ,,Yeah, I'm short, but I'm not an asshole like you. So what do you want?", he counters and Jack laughs lightly. ,,I'm here to pick up Rhys and take him back to Helios. If he doesn't want to come, then just say 'Handsome Jack is there and he doesn't like to wait' okay?" After Jack said his name, the guy looks at him with wide eyes and hurries back into the apartment. _So Rhys told him too who I am. Good boy_.

Jack waits in the door frame and leans lightly against it. _Can't he hurry up?_  Suddenly he hears them talking quietly and he walks a bit more into the apartment to understand what they talk about. ,,Rhys, you have to go to the door! There's-", the short guy tries to talk some sense into Rhys, but he cuts him off. ,,No, Vaughn! I want to stay in my bed. I know, that you're worried about me and want me to have some fun, but I won't go outside today!", Rhys replies stubbornly and Jack grins about it. ,,Bro, it's really important for you!" Jack hears Rhys snorting and the other lets out a noise of frustration. ,,Tell them, that I'm not there and that they can come back tomorrow." _I won't come tomorrow, what does he think?_  Jack is really amused about the whole situation, but it starts to annoy him, so he just walks to them.

,,So you want me to believe, that you're not here?", Jack means smirking and Shorty quickly leaves the room. ,,What are you doing here?", Rhys asks surprised and now Jack notices the music in the background. It's not the type of music Jack likes, but still he recognizes the song. ,, _But there's a heavy cloud inside my head, I feel so tired. Put myself into bed._ ", Jack sings along the song and Rhys quickly turns off the stereo. ,,You're in such a depressed mood, just because I fired you?" Jack knew, that Rhys would be down, but he thought, he would get up quickly. ,,Working for Hyperion was my dream and it got crushed from you!", Rhys replies angryly, but it quickly gets replaced from tiredness. ,,Just tell me what you want Jack."

With a sigh, Jack sits down on the bed from Rhys. ,,I'm here to pick you up and take you back to Helios." Rhys looks at him surprised and he smiles lightly. ,,I looked at the video from the night before the testing. Vasquez sabotaged your Loader Bot, so I thought I give you a second chance.", Jack explains it to Rhys and again Rhys looks at him angryly. ,,You couldn't just look at it, when I was on the station?" _What? Shouldn't he take my offer with kisses and shit?_  ,,I was disappointed and couldn't stand your face in that moment." Rhys crosses his arms in front of his chest and Jack huffs annoyed. ,,So what's now?" _I want to be back on Helios and maybe airlock some people._  ,,I don't need to take your offer. You know, there are so much more companies and maybe they are better than Hyperion.", Rhys simply says and Jack now looks at him surprised. _He didn't just said that, did he?_  He hates to admit it, but he needs Rhys as the Head Of Robotics. ,,Rhys, I can leave without you and let Vasquez keep the job. Maybe I even let them build your Loader Bot and give all the credits to Vasquez.", Jack tells him with a huge smirk and Rhys looks so pissed. _I said the right thing._  ,,Okay, I come with you, but I get all the credit for my Loader Bot and Vasquez won't work in my department!" Jack stands up nodding and walks into the hallway. ,,Everything you want, princess and you can even fire Vasquez on your own!"

They sit quietly next to each other in the shuttle and Jack listens to the music from the radio. ,,Rhys?", Jack asks him and Rhys looks over at him. ,,Why did you gave up so easily, when I fired you?" Rhys looks out of the window and Jack waits for the answer. ,,I thought everything was impossible then and I was disappointed at myself.", Rhys answers quietly after a while. ,,Nothing is impossible, as long as you're alive. Okay, maybe it was impossible for you to work for Hyperion. But then I would've quickly pick myself up from the ground and start somewhere new. Who knows, maybe you would've had more fun there.", Jack replies and Rhys nods lightly. ,,But nothing would've made more fun, than fearing for his life, when the CEO from Hyperion threatens you.", Rhys jokes and they both laugh about it. ,,But I have to be like that." Rhys shakes his head in disapproval and Jack nods. ,,What do you think would happen, when I would be nice to everyone?", Jack asks and Rhys shrugs. ,,Probably everyone wouldn't live in fear anymore and they would talk about you nicer." Jack laughs about this loudly and Rhys crosses his arms over his chest offended. ,,You're right, kinda. But the more important thing is, that everyone would try to kill me to get the job as the CEO from Hyperion and be the boss of a space station." Rhys thinks this over and then nods slowly. ,,And then when I'm dead, the next CEO would be dead in a week too. So that Hyperion doesn't have a regular CEO and the whole company plus space station goes down. All I want to say with this is, that I can't be nice always, so that people know, that they can't play around with me and shouldn't even consider an attack on me.", Jack ends his explanation and Rhys smiles lightly at him. ,,Thank you, I learned something today." Jack returns the smile very lightly and adds:,,and it didn't even cost something." They both laugh about this and then continue their way up to Helios in a comfortable silence.


	12. Partys and Punshes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I managed to update this story after one week! I'm proud of myself! :D  
> You can leave a comment if you like! :)

Today is the day for Rhys to prove, that he deserves the job as the Head Of Robotics. Over the last weeks, he built the Loader Bot again and tested it so much, that the poor thing complained about it. Rhys was really surprised about it, but thought it was kinda adorable.

He walks up to the secretary from Jack and as he already guessed, she says, that Jack is not there at the moment. ,,That's fine. I just wanted to deliver some papers for him, can I bring them into his office?", Rhys asks her nicely and she nods slowly. With that, Rhys walks into the office and puts the metal cube on the table from the CEO. ,,Don't you dare to explode, okay?", he whispers to the robot and then leaves again. _Today I'm 200% sure, that the Loader Bot will work perfectly._

**~~~**

Jack immediately notices the strange cube on his table, which he didn't left there. _A present from a secret admirer?_  With a grin, Jack steps closer to the thing and reaches out for it. But he instead draws his Hyperion® pistole and is ready to shoot it to tiny pieces, because the metal cube opened suddenly. ,,Please don't shot!", a robotic voice says and Jack puts his gun away slowly. The cube unfolds completely and Jack recognizes the shape. _A Loader Bot, **Rhys'**  Loader Bot._ As soon as he realizes that, he quickly backs up more. ,,Are you afraid of me?", the Loader Bot asks and Jack huffs quietly. _That's so stupid, a Loader Bot from Hyperion talks to me!_  ,,Of course not. Rhys built you, right?", Jack replies and the Loader Bot hums lightly. ,,Yes, he did. He said, I shouldn't explode, but I don't know why, I should even consider it." Jack still can't believe, that this robot actually can reply and say something _smart_. ,,I will call Rhys up here.", Jack mutters to himself and sits down into his big chair. ,,Call _Rhys_." Before Jack can say something, he hears the beeping from the Loader Bot and then Rhys' voice. ,,Yeah, what's wrong?" Jack rolls his eyes and turns the Loader Bot around. ,,Rhys, you have something to explain.", Jack answers and after some argueing, Rhys is on his way to Jack. _Too many surprises from one robot._

After some time, Rhys enters the office finally and Jack sees, that he tries to hide his grin. _What a cocky bastard._  ,,So what does this lil' robot can?", Jack asks him with a light smile and Rhys smiles back. ,,First of all, I call his unit _Ultimate Handsome Badass Tiny Loader_. Okay his unit contains just him.", Rhys tells Jack and Jack grins wider because of the name. _Nice one._  ,,And his funtions? Besides acting as a telephone and being a cube." Rhys counts with his hands something and Jack gets more curious, about his mysterious Loader Bot. ,,Well, I made it especially for you, so it's just the prototype for a new line of Loader Bots." And with that Rhys starts to explain to Jack all the features from the Loader Bot. And Jack _loves_  everything about the Loader Bot. _I have a helpful little spy protector here on my desk._  ,,The last thing is his voice modulator. I want you to show something.", Rhys means suddenly and Jack sees the light blush on the face from the kid. _What did he do?_  ,,Loader Bot, who is Handsome Jack?" Jack rolls his eyes and looks at the tiny robot in front of him. ,,Handsome Jack is the most handsome guy in the universe and so badass, that he could kill you with a spoon easily.", the robot answers and Jack can't hold back his loud laughter. ,,Wow, Rhys. I already thought you would totally impress me with this Loader Bot, but _shit_  totally doesn't come near how much I'm impressed. Good fucking job, pumpkin." Rhys' cheeks get all red and Jack is sure, that he likes this guy. ,,I think someone deserves a little promotion to Head Of Robotics, huh?"

**~~~**

Jack and Rhys walk next to each other to the robotics department. Rhys doesn't know why the CEO accompanies him, but he doesn't mind it at all. In reality Jack is not that huge of a heartless asshole, like everyone says. You can laugh and joke with him and you don't have to fear for your life all the time. Jack can be a _human_. ,,So, Rhysie. I thought about something.", Jack starts and Rhys gestures so that Jack continues to speak. ,,First I wanted to manage the thing with Vasquez, but it's kinda not my business. So I leave it to you, what you do to Vasquez." Rhys smiles lightly and in his mind are so many options to pay Vasquez back. ,,What would the CEO himself do?", Rhys asks instead and Jack chuckles lightly. ,,If I'd be in your situation and could do whatever I want, I would totally kill him. Like I hate backstabbers and he's one.", Jack says honestly and Rhys shakes his head. _Nope, murder is_ not _an option._  ,,No, thank you. I probably demote him to something." Jack huffs unamused and crosses his arms. ,,Why did you ask for my opinion then? But seriously, Rhys! How about, I shoot him a few times and you finish him? Just with a tiny bullet!" Rhys rolls with his eyes and decides not to answer Jack. ,,Or what, if he would trip by accident into a knife?" This goes on for a few minutes, until Jack doesn't know any other ways to kill someone (by accident).

**~~~**

 With a wide smile, Rhys sits at (his) big desk in _his_  own office. On the table stands a gold plate with _his_  name on it and the same plate is on the door. He loves his new job so much. So much space for himself, everybody has to knock on  _his_  door and the best is, that now he can invent things on his own. Jack gave his okay for that, as long as it doesn't cost too much and isn't all too useless. _I'm officially Head of Robotics!_

Suddenly it knocks on Rhys' door and he flinchs lighty. _I don't expect anybody._  ,,Yeah?" The door opens and there stands Handsome Jack with a light grin. Rhys and the CEO had more contact the last days, than Rhys thought someone could ever have with Jack. ,,Hey, you don't wear your suit! It doesn't look all too good, when the host comes to late for his own party.", Jack means and Rhys quickly stands up cursing. ,,I forgot that." Jack laughs and Rhys still curses. ,,Wow, you are the first person, who forgot his promotion party. Seriously, most of the people were there two hours too early. Okay, I never went to the partys before, because they are pretty boring." Rhys quickly locks the office and department and hurries to the apartment. ,,Then why do you go to mine?", Rhys asks on the way and Jack puts his best fake-offended face on. ,,Don't you dare to say, you don't want to have Handsome Jack there. I will make this party interesting." Rhys can't hide his smirk about this and unlocks the door. ,,You know, how I meant that.", Rhys says, before he walks into his bedroom and closes the door. ,,Y'know, I thought it would be exciting to look how the party is and I have to embarrass you there.", Rhys hears Jack voice through the door and he quickly gets dressed. He chuckles to himself and gives himself one last look in the mirror. _Y_ _ep, definitely suitable._

Jack instantly whistles and Rhys shoves him out of the apartment. ,,And where is your suit?", Rhys asks with a raised brow and Jack looks down on myself. ,,Don't you see, that I wear my best shirt and jacket? I even let my shoes polish, extra for this event.", Jack answers and Rhys shakes his head. ,,Oh yeah, your shoes shine really bright, might need sunglasses." Jack laughs a 'shut up' and shortly after, they arrive at the party.

**~~~**

As Jack already guessed, the party could've been really boring, if he haven't changed a few things. Less talking, more booze and music. Normally the party starts with many speechs about the person like how she or he made it to this point and so on. Jack changed it, so that he only talks about Rhys and no one else. He didn't want to listen to some boring guys saying the same shit over and over. And his speech was awesome. ,,So umm, welcome to the little promotion party from the new Nerdlord of Robotics _Rhys_! I could tell you all his way to this point, but I won't because it's boring. Important is, that he built me the best Loader Bot ever and he deserves the promotion. This Loader Bot of his talks so much and I love it, because he just talks about how awesome I am and that I am a god. I don't doubt, that secretly this aren't the words from the Loader rather the words from Rhys himself." At this point, Rhys looked away embarrassed and Jack was proud of himself. ,,So, let's make this party as awesome as I am. I demand, more booze than snooze my friends!" With that he just dropped the mirco and let the DJs take over with their music.

But now, Jack has been already here for a few hours and he really has to work some more. The problem is, he can't find Rhys anywhere and he doesn't want to just leave without saying 'bye' to Rhys. _As a good guest, you have to say goodbye._  So he starts to ask around, if anyone saw Rhys and one of them says, that he went to the toilet. _If he fell asleep on the toilet, I will definitely take pictures of him._  When he's near the toilet, Jack hears voices coming from the toilets. _Gang Bang?_  Jack opens the door and slowly walks over to the three guys and the person laying on the floor. He recognizes the suit and walks faster. ,,What happened here?", Jack asks and the guys turns around. They are pretty drunk and have wide grins in their faces. ,,Oh, we just showed this _rat_ , how you treat lying and stealing assholes.", the tallest one of them answers and Jack really wants to shoot the grin out of his face. ,,Oh yeah, you're right.", Jack agrees coldly and the other men laugh. ,,Thought he could get away with the stealing of Vasquez job and demoting him to janitor!", the ugliest of them means and Jack draws his pistole. He shoots the men next to the tallest in the head and puts away his pistole. ,,So, he's a rat?" The guy can't answer, because Jack grabs him by the collar and tugs him to one of the cabins. He simply drowns him in the toilet and let his corpse lay in the toilet.

Quickly he's next to Rhys and Rhys moves lightly away from him hissing. ,,Hey, hey. I won't hurt you and I didn't meant what I said there. You are _not_  a rat and you don't deserve to get beaten up at your own party.", Jack means to Rhys softly and the boy relaxes lighty. ,,Jack...it hurts.", Rhys says quietly and Jack pulls a syringe with red liquid out of his pocket. ,,This will hurt a bit, but afterwards you will feel better." With that he injects Rhys the liquid and Rhys whimpers lightly. ,,Do you feel better?", Jack asks after some time and Rhys nods. ,,Okay, good. You have to stand up, pumpkin." Rhys makes noises of protest, but Jack ignores them and helps Rhys up on his feed. The younger man leans heavily against Jack, but he can supports him easily. ,,Come on, I take you home." They leave the toilet and after Jack gave someone the task to call a janitor to clean the mess up in the toilet, they leave the whole party.

,,I'm tired.", Rhys mumbles into Jacks shoulder and walks slower. ,,Rhys, please. Don't fall asleep now, I have to get you to the penthouse first, okay?", Jack replies and Rhys growls lightly. ,,Why do you let me suffer so much?" Jack rolls his eyes and moves his shoulder so that Rhys has to move his head. ,,Stay awake, please. Tell me something, just keep talking." Rhys growls lightly and looks around. ,,I don't know, about what I should talk.", he finally says and Jack feels desperately. ,,Oh, I have something! I found something out about you.", Rhys starts then and Jack immediately looks at him. _Did he found out about my past?_  ,,Everybody says, that you're no fun to hang around, but I deny that! Like I already laughed and joked with you. Everybody treats you like you're a heartless god or something like that, but if they would get to know you better, they'd know that you're just a human. Don't feel offended, you _are_  powerful, but you are not less human than me. Some people talk really bad about you and right now I just hate these people. They doesn't know shit about you and judge over you. If I had to sum your personality up into a few words, I'd say _Perfection in Imperfection_. Or the other way around, I don't know how you like it more. You know, like you are perfect in your own ways. For example you are perfect in threatening people, but it's an imperfection, 'cause nobody likes to be threaten. Oh, sorry. I just keep talking and I bet it doesn't mean anything to you...and I'm fine with it! Totally!", Rhys ends his monologue and Jack smiles lighty. _It kinda really means something to me. He's the first person in like a few years to say something nice about me. What a dork._  ,,Jack, if I upset you, then I'm sorry. I really just want to make you feel better about you as the CEO. You're a good CEO.", Rhys suddenly says quietly and the last part he mumbles into Jacks shoulder again. ,,It's fine, Rhys. I'm not upset at all, I'm happy."


	13. Importance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still uploading regularly! :D
> 
> And thank you very much for all your kind comments! They are a great motivation for me! <3

Rhys wakes up to the smell of pancakes and a light headache, plus his body hurts, where he got hit. He stretches carefully and sits up slowly, so that his headache doesn't get worse. _Why did I fell asleep on the couch? Maybe I was just too tired. I should visit Jack later and thank him for taking me home._  With that Rhys stands up and walks to the kitchen. _I remember the way differently, but maybe I'm just too out of it._  He walks through the kitchen and to the fridge to drink something, because his throat feels pretty dry. ,,Morning, Yvette. What are you cooking?", Rhys says to the person at the stove. He's about to grab some milk, when the person starts to speak and he finally knows, why everything is so off. ,,Yvette? Who the fuck is that? And I'm making some pancakes, dum dum.", Jack says with a clear smirk in his voice and a laugh at Rhys' expression. Rhys quickly puts the milk back and closes the fridge, like it's the most holy thing to touch. ,,I'm s-sorry for being so rude. Sorry!", Rhys replies over and over and Jacks smirk just grows. ,,It's fine, cupcake! Jeez, stay calm." Jack laughs afterwards and Rhys calms down. ,,So, you make pancakes?", Rhys asks curiously and looks at the flat desserts in the pan. _They look really delicious. I would have laughed at the person, who would have said to me, that Jack would cook._  ,,Yeah and I hope you're hungry. I don't want to waste all the good stuff.", Jack tells him and Rhys doesn't know what to feel. _And that Jack would cook for_ me _!_

After all the pancakes are ready, they sit down around the big table from Jack. Jack has a coffee next to his plate and Rhys just a water, that he already used to swallow down a pill for his headache. Rhys still can't believe, that he sits here and eats breakfast with Handsome Jack the CEO from Hyperion. ,,Yvette is one of my best friends and kinda my only friend here on Helios.", Rhys suddenly tells Jack and the other man looks up. ,,Huh, why is that so? I thought, you would have tons of friends.", Jack replies and takes a sip from his coffee. ,,Nah, I don't have too much time for that. But I have a few friends down on my homeplanet and there is of course my best bro Vaughn. Ah, you actually met him, the guy who opened you the door.", Rhys means and Jack laughs lightly. ,,This shorty is your best friend? Well, at least you have friends." _Was there a sad tone in his voice? Nah, he doesn't need such things. But I still should change the topic._  ,,Uh...thank you for saving me there." Rhys thinks back to the night and then he suddenly remembers something else. _Fuck, I talked so much embarrassing shit._  ,,No, problem. I'm always happy to be the hero.", Jack says and winks at Rhys. ,,I said, so much _shit_  yesterday. That's so embarrassing!" Rhys' head turns red and he hides it in his hands, while Jack chuckles lightly. ,,Don't be. You were on painkillers and you drank some alcohol.", Jack wipes it away easily and Rhys nods, while he still mutters an apologie. ,,Whatever, eat your pancakes or they get cold and gross." With that they eat their meals in silence and Rhys is surprised, how good everything tastes.

**~~~**

,,See you around, kiddo! And please the next time you party, don't drink that much.", Jack jokes, as they stand in front of the entrance of the elevator. ,,I'll try my best.", Rhys answers with a smile and turns to the elevator. ,,Ah, and you should probably visit a doctor, like immediately. These bruises look really bad." Rhys nods in appreciation and rides down with the elevator.

Jack walks back into his apartment and sits down on his couch, to get some work done. Rhys took his time yesterday, so he could just work a bit, before he got too tired and he didn't felt like working at all. After he took Rhys home, he immediately fell asleep on the couch and so Jack just threw a blanket over him and let him sleep. He doesn't like to have somebody sleeping in his apartment, but he felt sympathy with Rhys. His intentions were to bring Rhys up here, call the doctors to patch him up and then, if he's consious, bring him to his own apartment. _But then I wouldn't have gotten anything done._

His mind wanders off to another topic, he thought about today and yesterday. _Should I tell him my story?_  He shouldn't even think of it, but still here he is. _Rhys seems like someone you can trust, but what will he think of me? He probably will hate me and think that I am a monster._  Jack is in a terrible situation. He likes the guy enough to tell him his secrets, but he doesn't want to lose him. Rhys is a good change for his life, something else than work and work. Jack never really had time to make friends, besides he didn't wanted to have such a _thing_. It means having trust in someone and risk getting betrayed. The biggest thing Jack _hates_. Betrayal. _No Jack! You won't tell him anything, he doesn't deserve this and he will betray you instantly!_  He shakes his head and dedicates back to his work.

**~~~**

After the lunch with the CEO, Rhys walks back to his department and thinks about the past time. Rhys thought, that maybe the CEO would get tired of his presence and would not take him out on lunch. It's nice to have someone different than Yvette around and he can help Rhys with the new Loader Bot. Rhys can simply ask the man, what he likes to have as a Loader Bot and so Rhys doesn't have to come up with something the CEO could maybe not like. That's why, his plan for the new line are tall combat Loader Bots with shields, that can call more Loader Bots for help.

When Rhys arrives back in the department his co workers greed him smiling and Rhys smiles back. His workers seem to really like him as their boss and their department is more productive than ever. Jack had already gave him a pat on the shoulder for that and that the floors are cleaner, since Vasquez is the Head Of Cleaning. _I_ _t's so good not having Vasquez around!_  Rhys gets of course death glares from Vasquez, when he passes him while he cleans something. _But glares can't kill._  Even when he kinda tried it already with these three guys. Jack said, that now he should really kill this guy, but Rhys didn't wanted to and won't ever do it. They don't know, if it was really planned from Vasquez or that the guys just acted on their own.

On a plain paper, Rhys writes down, what he plans for the Loader Bot and puts the paper away. Jack didn't gave him a deadline for the Loaders, so he works on another project. It's nothing for the company more for himself. He found a little flying drone in one of the drawers, which doesn't work anymore. His plans are to repair it and give it a voice modulator. Rhys knows, that not everything should speak, but he just likes to speak to machines. Things that shouldn't talk, but can. And it's not wasted money, he just repairs it and he uses the broken voice modulator. Maybe he can fix it and if not, than the drone can scare some people away with the screams. The robot is nearly fixed again and has a name already. _Dumpy_. When Rhys tested the drone, it flew around in his office and bumped into walls and stuff. _The name fits perfectly_.

After some hours, Dumpy is ready to guard him. Rhys couldn't fix the voice modulator, because some things melted inside of it and so whatever Rhys does, Dumpys voice will always remain screaming. _Poor guy, he can't communicate with other bots. He won't ever find a nice wife drone to have robo babies with._  With a smirk, he activates the drone and it steadily flies up in the air. ,,How are you, little guy?", Rhys asks him and as a answer he gets a short and high scream. _Maybe I should turn down the volume of his voice._  He pulls out the plush bear, he bought a few days ago for the testing and puts it against the wall. ,,Dumpy, shoot the bear." Dumpy turns around and finally finds the bear at the wall and stuns the bear. The bear falls over and Dumpy screams lightly. ,,Good job. You defeated an unmoving object.", Rhys says with a smile and Dumpy screams to him deep. ,,Hey, don't threaten me now!" Dumpy flies back onto the table and diactivates itself. ,,Aw c'mon. I'm sorry."

  
**~~~**

A few days later, Rhys and Jack hadn't talked to each other. Rhys starts to think, that he maybe made a mistake by saying something wrong and now the CEO is upset. He thought about visiting Jack in his office, but he doesn't want to annoy Jack. _I guess, I just have to wait._  Suddenly his ECHO Eye tells him, he has an incoming message. _Hey, Rhys. Please come to my office in the evening. It's important. - Handsome Jack._  ,,When you speak of the devil, huh?" Rhys looks through his calendar and sees that he's free in the evening. Lately he had some meetings because of the Loader Bots. With one look on the clock, he dedicates back on the final plans for the Loader Bots. _What does he want to speak about with me?_


	14. Legends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I've been busy with school and some other stuff, but now I have holidays. I will upload the next chapter tomorrow, to make up for the lack of chapters in the past weeks!

Jack walks up and down in his office and he decides, that waiting is a real torture. _And I'm_ not  _nervous. Pah, about such a thing._  In fact, the thing is something really big and heavy for Jack. He hates himself for that dumb decision. _Rhys will totally hate me for this. Well, then so be it._  When the doors open, Jack flinchs lightly and breaths out relieved after he sees who it is. It's just his secretary. ,,What's the matter?", Jack asks softly and sits down into his chair. _I'm about to lose my nerves. Un-fucking-believable._  ,,Rhys is here, sir. You said, that I should tell you before he comes in.", she says with a light smile and Jack quickly stands up again. _Calm down, for fuck's sake._  ,,Ah, yeah. Let him in, please." With a nod, she exits the office and shortly after Rhys enters it. _He looks as nervous as I feel, but he doesn't even have to do anything._

Jack motions Rhys over to the desk and after they greeded each other, they sit down. ,,Jack, if I have done something wrong, please tell me and I try to fix it.", Rhys suddenly says and looks like he saw a ghost. ,,Calm down, kiddo. You didn't do anything wrong. Why do you think so?", Jack replies calmly and with a slight grin. ,,Sorry. I just thought so, because you wrote 'It's important.' and you didn't came by to talk to me." Jack laughs lightly and he feels a lot better now. ,,Jeez, you shouldn't think so much. I want to tell you a story. _My_  story." Rhys looks at him with wide eyes and says nothing. ,,Just if you have time, if not then not and if you don't feel like to hear it. It's not a happy story.", Jack tells him and looks away. ,,No no....no! I have time and I want to hear it, just if you're really okay with it." _He's the right one to tell this story, if not him then nobody_. ,,It all started, when I still was just some programmer for Hyperion...", Jack starts his story and Rhys listens carefully.

**~~~**

,,After the Vault Key was charged, I awoken the Warrior and killed with him the Vault Hunters. Hah, I thought the thing would listen to me, but then it started attacking _me_  and I had to kill it. I killed a damn god and some Vault Hunters, that really annoyed me, but for what price? My girlfriend was nearly dead, I was injured and of all people _my daughter_  died! MY DAUGHTER! If I would've known, then I wouldn't have done that. Nothing from that. I would've just sat in my chair and enjoyed some fucking pretzels. I'm such a dumb IDIOT! I COULD'VE SAVED HER! I'm not a hero or legend. I'm just a coward and terrible father. GODDAMMIT!" Then Jack suddenly ends and turns away from Rhys. Rhys really doesn't know, what he should think right now, but he shoves that away. Right now he just wants to calm Jack down. So he stands up and walks up to the man. Even with the mask Rhys sees how much the man is hurt and he even sees the tears in his eyes. He never thought, that Handsome Jack could show other emotions than anger and madness. Without thinking he just wraps his arms around the other man and Rhys feels Jack freezing. For a second he thinks, that he has done the wrong thing, but then Jack embraces him back and slowly they slide down to the ground.

A few hours later, they sit next to each other at the window from the office and just stare into the darkness. ,,I'm sorry, that I yelled. I really tried to hold myself.", Jack says quietly and Rhys huffs lightly. ,,You don't have to hold yourself after such a story. I can understand your reactions. Don't be sorry.", Rhys replies and Jack sighs. ,,I didn't expect to feel it so strong. I thought, it would've gone away lightly after time." They just sit there in silence and Rhys thinks this over. He kinda doesn't see Jack as a boss anymore, more like a friend. A really good one in fact. _That's so crazy._  A few months ago, he was afraid that the man next to him would kill him and now he just told him about his past. ,,Thank you." Rhys looks over and in the light from Elpis, he sees Jack smiling lightly. ,,For what?" Now it's Jacks turn to look over and he looks slightly annoyed. _He slowly gets back to normal._  ,,For listening and not running away or insulting me." Jack slowly stands up and helps Rhys up as well. ,,Jack...you don't need to thank me for this. Okay, yeah you made some mistakes, but who am I to judge? It's in the past, you can't change it as much as you would love to. And there are other people involved in this story, that made mistakes as well. They betrayed you over and over! So really, why should I judge over your past, when I wasn't involved in it and there is a present and future which looks brighter?", Rhys answers serious and Jack looks at him surprised. ,,Rhys...wow. That was just soppy, but you know? I start to really like you." With a wide grin, they both leave the office.

**~~~**

Today is the presentation from Rhys' new Loader Bots. Jack hates to admit it, but he's really excited to hear and see them finally after a few weeks of waiting. After he gave a little start speech, he sits down into his chair on the side from the stage, while the other audience sit in front of it. Jack can just imagine what they look like and they look _awesome_. When Rhys finally walks up to the microphone, Jack gives him a quick thumbs up to encourage him. He was really insecure about the speech over the last few days and wanted from Jack, that he cancel everything. Jack just laughed lightly and gave him a few tips, that helped him with his first few speeches as the new CEO from Hyperion. He knows exactly how Rhys feels, in fact before his first speech Nisha had to slap him so that he stops talking about how much he will fuck it up. _Well, there are just a few people where I show my weak sides._  He really has to call Nisha again, they hadn't spoken to each other too long. Unfortunately Wilhelm got killed by these damn Vault Hunters.

Rhys stops in front of the micro and clears his throat. ,,So, yeah. Uhm...you all probably want to see the new Loader Bots my department developed, but first I have to say some things before we come to the existing...dammit I meant exciting.", Rhys starts really nervous and everbody starts to laugh about the little mistake. _He's as bad as me when I was young._  The poor kid looks over to him lost and Jack gestures a bit so that Rhys breaths and then starts to talks again. ,,Sorry, I'm not good at this. I just want to thank everybody who worked on these Loader Bots and made them even possible. And of course a huge thanks to Handsome Jack for giving me ideas and helping me out with a few things. You could be also Head Of Robotics and not CEO with your ideas." Rhys gets interrupted with laughter and even Jack laughs lightly. _Now he gets into the flow._  ,,I don't want to waste your time further and just show you the new line of Loader Bots. The _TWIB-Loaders_. The name isn't settled yet.", Rhys ends and the curtains opens for the Loader Bots.

The five robots walk more into the light and move a bit around, it almost looks like they dance. _Oh yeah, dancing robots._ The audience and Jack clap loudly and Jack is really impressed by the look of them even when he doesn't like the dancing part. ,,Thank you very much. So I just want to explain them and the name shortly. The **T**  stands for telephone, as dumb as it sounds, but they can call for backup when soldiers or robots need it. The **W**  stands for WAR-Loader and as you can see the robots have the guns from a WAR-Loader on their left side. The **I**  stands for ION-Loaders so they just have the shield and can protect friends in a very long range. The **B**  stands for BUL-Loader and they basically have the metal shield, when their ION-Shield is depleted. So, with that Loader Bot at your side, you are safer than a safe in Handsome Jacks penthouse.", Rhys explains the Loaders while they shake the part of their body or activate the shield when it get mentioned. Then everybody claps again and Rhys walks away from the stage with his Loader Bots behind him. ,,Thank you Rhys for your great speech! So, that's done ya all can go and live your lifes until I end it. But of course everyone of you can come to the celebration party tomorrow in the Hub of Heroism.", Jack ends the whole presentration and walks to Rhys, who stands in the little front room next to the stage.

,,Ah, Mr. Existing!", Jack greeds Rhys and gets an angry look back. ,,Don't make fun of me!" Jack smirk gets wider and he pats Rhys shoulder lightly. ,,Hey, don't take it too serious. I liked your speech and you managed that really good.", Jack replies and Rhys sighs. ,,I'm just happy, that this is over.", Rhys says and together they leave the stage. ,,I'm impressed, again. Like in so many years no one from robotics, had the idea to invent something new. Even when you just put together some of the features from the older models. It's something and you don't even work here for a year." Jack sees Rhys smiling and he starts to smile too. ,,Thank you very much."

**~~~**

Jack taps impatiently on his desk and waits for Nisha to finally pick the call up. _She always is the type to keep me waiting, because she knows, that it pisses me off._  After some more beeps, it stops and he hears Nishas smug voice. ,,Ah, Jackie. Long time no see.", Nisha greeds him and he growls lightly, because of the nickname. ,,Nisha, my favourite cowgirl. How have ya been? Is Lynchwood still a nice place?", Jack asks her with a grin and she chuckles lightly. ,,Depends, sometimes my injuries get the better of me, but I won't complain. Is there a certain reason for your call?" Jack feels a light pain in his chest with the mention of her injuries. He still feels guilty for that, even though they don't date anymore and he doesn't love her. ,,Nah, just thought about you and Wilhelm. I miss to make fun of you.", he answers smirking and she huffs. ,,Maybe you should really let this Nakayama guy rebuild Wilhelm." Disgust settles in his stomach, because of the thought about this guy. ,,No, he's crazy in love with me and I don't wanna talk to him. Plus, there's already an AI version of me, so why make a Wilhelm rebuild? We should let him rest y'know.", he tells her seriously and she sighs quietly. ,,You're probably right." For some moments no one talks and Jack looks around in his office.

,,Nish, if I'm honest. I missed to talk to you." He hears her laugh and he rolls his eyes. ,,Don't get sentimental now. But if you want to ask me to come up to Helios for a fuck, then just _ask_.", she laughs and Jack denies it immediately. ,,No, thank you." She continues to laugh and Jack rolls his eyes again. ,, _Jack_ , I didn't mean that. I would never come up to Helios just for a fuck. You're not that good in bed.", she teases him and he growls lightly. ,,And you would never just answer with straight up 'no', you would joke around with me. So is there someone?" Jack growls more and she continues to ask. ,,Nisha, there is no one. I'm just not in the mood for it.", Jack lies to her and she laughs again. ,,You and Not-In-The-Mood? You are the most sarcastic asshole in the universe." Jack doesn't know why he immediately turned that down. She's right, he would've totally joke around with her. ,,Come on, we are old friends. You can talk with me about that." Jack sighs and decides to give in. Nisha can be really stubborn, when she wants to know something. ,,Okay, there is Rhys, I guess. But he's a guy and I'm straight or...", Jack says and Nisha doesn't say anything for a while. ,,Jack, you know that these things can _change_  over time? And come on, don't be such a pussy about it. So what? You love a guy? No one will hate you more than they already do.", Nisha chuckles and Jack feels somehow irritated, the thought about loving someone again, scares him. ,,Nisha, I _don't_  love him, I just like him. He's smart and one of the few people I don't want to airlock after making fun of me." She huffs lightly annoyed. ,,That sounds more like love to me than anything, I know you pretty well." Jack is fed up with her and just hangs up.

After Nisha, he swore himself to never get back into a serious realtionship. He doesn't want to hurt anyone anymore that means something to him and the best way to keep that, is to never let anybody get close to him. Deep down he knows he already broke that rule, by telling Rhys his darkest secret. _But best friends tell each other everything doesn't they?_  The difference is just, that Handsome Jack doesn't have any friends. _Rhys is just a good colleague._  With that last thought, he sits down at his desk again and starts to concentrate on work.


End file.
